Some of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System's current coverage area was once served by an electrified streetcar and suburban train system called the Key System, this early 20th-century system once had regular transbay traffic across the lower deck of the Bay Bridge, but the system was dismantled in the 1950s, with its last transbay crossing in 1958,and was superceded by highway travel. A 1950s study of traffic problems in the Bay Area concluded the most cost-effective solution for the Bay Area's traffic woes would be to form a transit district charged with the construction and operation of a new, high-speed rapid transit system linking the cities and suburbs.[citation needed]

Formal planning for BART began with the setting up in 1957 of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, a county-based special-purpose district body that governs the BART system. The district initially began with five members, all of which were projected to receive BART lines: Alameda County, Contra Costa County, the City and County of San Francisco, San Mateo County, and Marin County. Though invited to participate, Santa Clara County supervisors elected not to join BART, preferring instead to concentrate on constructing freeways and expressways (the system will expand into Santa Clara county in 2018, but the county is still not a district member); in 1962 San Mateo County supervisors voted to leave BART, saying their voters would be paying taxes to carry mainly Santa Clara County residents.[6] The district-wide tax base was weakened by San Mateo's departure, forcing Marin County to withdraw a month later, despite the fact that Marin had originally voted in favor of BART participation at the 88% level, its marginal tax base could not adequately absorb its share of BART's projected cost. Another important factor in Marin's withdrawal was an engineering controversy over the feasibility of running trains on the lower deck of the Golden Gate Bridge, an extension forecast as late as three decades after the rest of the BART system.[7][8][9] The withdrawals of Marin and San Mateo resulted in a downsizing of the original system plans, which would have had lines as far south as Palo Alto and northward past San Rafael. Voters in the three remaining participating counties approved the truncated system, with termini in Fremont, Richmond, Concord, and Daly City, in 1962.[citation needed]

Construction of the system began in 1964, and included a number of major engineering challenges, including excavating subway tunnels in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley; constructing aerial structures throughout the Bay Area, particularly in Alameda and Contra Costa counties; tunneling through the Berkeley hills on the Concord line; and lowering the system's centerpiece, the Transbay Tube connecting Oakland and San Francisco, into a trench dredged onto the floor of San Francisco Bay.[citation needed]

Passenger service began on September 11, 1972, initially just between MacArthur and Fremont, the rest of the system opened in stages, with the entire system opening in 1974 when the transbay service through the Transbay Tube began.[10] The new BART system was hailed as a major step forward in subway technology,[11] although questions were asked concerning the safety of the system[12] and the huge expenditures necessary for the construction of the network.[13] Ridership remained well below projected levels throughout the 1970s, and direct service from Daly City to Richmond and Fremont was not phased in until several years after the system opened.

Some of the early safety concerns appeared to be well founded when the system experienced a number of train-control failures in its first few years of operation, as early as 1969, before revenue service began, several BART engineers identified safety problems with the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system. The BART Board of Directors was dismissive of their concerns and retaliated by firing them.[14] Less than a month after the system's opening, on October 2, 1972, an ATC failure caused a train to run off the end of the elevated track at the terminal Fremont station and crash to the ground, injuring four people,[15][16] the “Fremont Flyer” led to a comprehensive redesign of the train controls and also resulted in multiple investigations being opened by the California State Senate, California Public Utilities Commission, and National Transportation Safety Board.[17] Hearings by the state legislature in 1974 into financial mismanagement at BART forced the General Manager to resign in May 1974, and the entire Board of Directors was replaced the same year when the legislature passed legislation leading to the election of a new Board and the end of appointed members.[18][19][20][21][22][23]

Even before the BART system opened, planners projected several possible extensions. Though Marin county was left out of the original system, the 1970 Golden Gate Transportation Facilities Plan considered a tunnel under the Golden Gate or a new bridge parallel to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to bring BART to Marin, but neither of these plans was pursued.[citation needed]. Over twenty years would pass before the first extensions to the BART system were completed to Colma and Pittsburg/Bay Point in 1996. An extension to Dublin/Pleasanton in 1997 added a fifth line to the system for the first time in BART's history, the system was expanded to San Francisco International Airport in 2003 and to Oakland International Airport via an automated guideway transitspur line in 2014. Construction of eBART, an extension using diesel multiple units along conventional railroad tracks between Pittsburg and Antioch, is underway as of 2016. BART's most significant current extension will take the system to Silicon Valley, the first phase extended the Fremont line to Warm Springs/South Fremont in early 2017, and construction is underway on the line to Milpitas and Berryessa.[24][25]

Further expansion has been proposed, contingent upon the allocation of funding, this includes the second phase of the Silicon Valley extension, which would bring the system to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara. Plans have long been floated for an extension from Dublin to Livermore, which would cost approximately $1.2 billion and run 5.5 miles (8.9 km) along interstate 580 to Isabel Avenue.[26] The BART board could vote in spring 2018 on this project, which would be completed in 2026. Other plans have included an extension to Hercules, a line along the Interstate Highway 680 corridor, and a fourth set of rail tracks through Oakland,[27] at least four infill stations such as Irvington and Calaveras on existing lines have been proposed.[28] With the Transbay Tube nearing capacity, long-range plans included a new four-bore Transbay Tube beneath San Francisco Bay that would run parallel and south of the existing tunnel and emerge at the Transbay Transit Terminal to connect to Caltrain and the future California High Speed Rail system. The four-bore tunnel would provide two tunnels for BART and two tunnels for conventional/high-speed rail, the BART system and conventional U.S. rail use different and incompatible rail gauges and different loading gauges.[3]

BART has also been studying ways to improve service and reliability in its core system, where density and ridership is highest. Recent exploratory ideas have included a line that would continue from the Transbay Terminal through the SOMA district, northwards on Van Ness and terminating in western San Francisco along the Geary corridor, the Presidio, or North Beach.

Since the mid-1990s, BART has been trying to modernize its system,[29] the fleet rehabilitation is part of this modernization; in 2009, fire alarms, fire sprinklers, yellow tactile platform edge domes, and cemented-mat rubber tiles were installed. The rough black tiles on the platform edge mark the location of the doorway of approaching trains, allowing passengers to wait at the right place to board. All faregates and ticket vending machines were replaced.

In 2007, BART stated its intention to improve non-peak (night and weekend) headways for each line to 15 minutes, the current 20-minute headways at these times is a barrier to ridership.[30] In mid-2007, BART temporarily reversed its position stating that the shortened wait times would likely not happen due to a $900,000 state revenue budget shortfall. Nevertheless, BART eventually confirmed the implementation of the plan by January 2008.[31] Continued budgetary problems halted the expanded non-peak service and returned off-peak headways to 20 minutes in 2009.[32]

In 2008 BART announced that it would install solar panels at two yards and maintenance facilities and the Orinda station[33] (the only station with enough sun to justify installation cost).[33]

Location of the third rail changes at the station. On the left side of the track in the distance is the emergency walkway — the third rail is across the track from this walkway.

The entirety of the system runs in exclusive right-of-way. BART's rapid transit revenue routes cover about 110 miles (180 km) with 45 stations. On the main lines, approximately 28 miles of lines run through underground sections with 32 miles on elevated tracks.[3]

Schedules call for trains to operate at up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), but certain segments (in particular, the Transbay Tube) are designed for 80 mph (130 km/h) operation when making up delays.[3][38][5]

Rapid transit trains have 4–10 cars, the maximum length of 710 feet (216 m) being the longest of any metro system in the United States and extending slightly beyond the 700-foot (213 m) platforms.[39] Cars are 10.5 feet (3.2 m) wide, the maximum gradient is four percent, and the minimum curve radius is 394 feet (120 m).[40]

Train frequencies are primarily limited by the fact that most lines funnel into the Transbay Tube and San Francisco. While a small sections of track in Oakland, Colma, and Daly City are triple- and quadruple-tracked, there are few sidings which would allow limited-stop or express trains to pass others.[citation needed]

BART operates five named and interlined heavy rail services plus one separate automated guideway line. All five heavy rail services run through Oakland, and all but the Richmond–Warm Springs/South Fremont line go through the Transbay Tube to San Francisco. All five services run on weekdays until the end of the afternoon rush hour; evenings (after about 6:00 pm), nights (after about 9:00 pm), and Sundays have as few as three services operating. Four of the services change terminals at certain times so that all stations are served during all service hours.[42]

Unlike most other rapid transit and rail systems around the world, BART lines are generally not officially referred to by shorthand designations or their color names. However, the new fleet will display line colors more prominently,[43] the five heavy rail services are identified on maps, schedules, and station signage by the names of their termini:

BART was one of the first U.S. rail transit systems of any size to be substantially automated. Routing and dispatching of trains, and adjustments for schedule recovery are controlled by a combination of computer and human supervision at BART's Operations Control Center (OCC) and headquarters at the Kaiser Center in Downtown Oakland. Station-to-station train movement, including speed control and maintenance of separation between successive trains, is entirely automatic under normal operation, the operator's routine responsibilities being issuing announcements, closing the doors after stations stops, and monitoring the track ahead for hazards; in unusual circumstances the operator controls the train manually at reduced speed.

The mainline BART network operates six types of electrically-operated, self-propelled railcars, built from four separate orders. The first four types, built from 1968 until 1996, total 669 cars (although 662 are currently available for revenue service), and have two or three doors on each side of the car depending on the model,[2] the newer two types, which are technologically incompatible with the older types, are in the process of manufacturing, delivery, and commissioning, and are due to replace all older types by 2022 while simultaneously expanding the fleet for future extensions.[45]

To run a typical peak morning commute, BART requires 579 cars. Of those, 535 are scheduled to be in active service; the others are used to build up four spare trains (essential for maintaining on-time service).[2][46] At any one time, the remaining 90 cars are in for repair, maintenance, or some type of planned modification work.[47]

BART has ordered 775 new cars from manufacturer Bombardier Transportation:[49][50] 310 cab cars (D-cars, which must be the end cars, and can be at any position in a train, although unlike both types of C-cars will not permit passengers to move freely between cars past the operator cab) and 465 non-cab cars (E-cars, which can not be "end cars").[51][52] The new cars have three doors on each side (increased from the current two, to speed station stops), bike racks, 54 seats per car, and interior displays giving next-stop information,[53] the new cars’ couplers are incompatible with all prior cars and must run in separate trains. The first test car was unveiled in April 2016;[54] upon approval, the first 10 cars were expected to be in service in December 2016, however, glitches delayed entry into service for one year. In early November 2017, a test train failed a CPUC regulatory inspection due to door issues, leaving the planned revenue service date in doubt,[55] the first ten-car train received CPUC certification on January 17, 2018,[56] with revenue service beginning two days later.[57] Delivery of all 775 cars is expected to be completed by Fall 2022.[58]

The vehicle procurement for eBART includes eight Stadler GTWdiesel railcars, with two options to purchase six more. The first of these trains were delivered in June 2016,[59] the Stadler GTW trains are diesel multiple units with 2/6 articulated power units, and are based on models previously used in Austin, Dallas and New Jersey.[54][60]

BART has five rapid transit lines; most of each line's length is on track shared with other lines. Trains on each line run every 15 minutes on weekdays and 20 minutes during evenings, weekends and holidays; stations on the section of track between Daly City and West Oakland are served by four lines and therefore see 16 trains an hour on each track.

BART service begins around 4:00 am on weekdays, 6:00 am on Saturdays, and 8:00 am on Sundays. Service ends every day near midnight with station closings timed to the last train at station. Two of the five lines, the Warm Springs/South Fremont–Daly City and Richmond–Daly City/Millbrae lines, do not have evening (after ~6:00 p.m. and ~9:00 p.m., respectively) or Sunday service, but all stations remain accessible by transfer from the other lines.[61][62][63] The Coliseum–Oakland International Airport AGT line runs every 6 minutes, with approximately the same operating hours as the five rapid transit lines.

All Nighter bus service runs when BART is closed. 30 out of 44 BART stations are served either directly or within a few blocks. BART tickets are not accepted on these buses, with the exception of BART Plus tickets (which are no longer accepted on AC Transit, Muni, SamTrans, or VTA beginning in 2013), and each of the four bus systems that provide All-Nighter service charges its own fare, which can be up to $3.50; a four-system ride could cost as much as $9.50 as of 2007.[64]

Fares on BART are comparable to those of commuter rail systems and are higher than those of most subways, especially for long trips, the fare is based on a formula that takes into account both the length and speed of the trip. A surcharge is added for trips traveling through the Transbay Tube, to Oakland International Airport, to San Francisco International Airport, and/or through San Mateo County, a county that is not a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Passengers can use refillable paper-plastic-composite tickets,[65] on which fares are stored via a magnetic strip, to enter and exit the system, the exit faregate prints the remaining balance on the ticket each time the passenger exits the station. A paper ticket can be refilled at a ticket machine, the remaining balance on any ticket can be applied towards the purchase of a new one, or a card is captured by the exit gate when the balance reaches zero; multiple low value cards can be combined to create a larger value card but only at specific ticket exchange locations, located at some BART stations.[66] The magnetic strip-based technology was developed by Cubic Transportation Systems with a contract awarded in 1974.[67]

BART relies on unused ticket values on discarded low-value cards for additional revenue, as much as $9.9 million.[68] The paper ticket technology is identical to the Washington Metro's former paper fare card, though the BART system does not charge higher fares during rush hour.

A standard-fare BART ticket. The initial purchased fare is printed parallel to the magnetic strip, and the card's remaining balance is printed on the left, updated upon each exit.

The minimum fare is $1.95 (except San Mateo County trips) under 6 miles (9.7 km).[69] The maximum one-way fare including all possible surcharges is $15.70, the journey between San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport. The farthest possible trip, from Pittsburg/Bay Point to Millbrae, costs less because of the $4 additional charge added to SFO trips and $6 additional charge added to OAK trips.[70] Entering and exiting the same station within three hours accrues an excursion fare of $5.75. Passengers without sufficient fare to complete their journey must use a cash-only AddFare machine to pay the remaining balance in order to exit the station.

Special color-coded tickets provide steep discounts for children, the disabled, seniors, and students.[71]BART Plus, a special high-value ticket with "flash-pass" privileges with some regional transit agencies, is being phased out in favor of the Clipper system.

Unlike many other rapid transit systems, BART does not have an unlimited ride pass, and the only discount provided to the public is a 6.25% discount when "high value tickets" are purchased with fare values of $48 and $64, for prices of $45 and $60 respectively. Amtrak's Capitol Corridor and San Joaquins trains sell $10 BART tickets on board in the café cars for only $8,[72][73] resulting in a 20% discount. A 62.5% discount is provided to seniors, the disabled, and children age 6 to 12. Middle and high school students 13 to 19 may obtain a 50% discount if their school participates in the BART program; these tickets are intended to be used only between the students' home station and the school's station and for transportation to and from school events. The tickets can be used only on weekdays, these School Tickets and BART Plus tickets have a last-ride bonus where if the remaining value is greater than $0.05, the ticket can be used one last time for a trip of any distance. Most special discounted tickets must be purchased at selected vendors and not at ticket machines, the BART Plus tickets can be purchased at the ticket machines.

The San Francisco Muni "A" monthly pass provides unlimited rides within San Francisco, with no fare credit applied for trips outside of the city. San Francisco pays $1.02 for each trip taken under this arrangement.[74]

Fares are enforced by the station agent, who monitors activity at the fare gates adjacent to the window and at other fare gates through closed circuit television and faregate status screens located in the agent's booth. All stations are staffed with at least one agent at all times.

Proposals to simplify the fare structure abound. A flat fare that disregards distance has been proposed, or simpler fare bands or zones. Either scheme would shift the fare-box recovery burden to the urban riders in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley and away from suburban riders in East Contra Costa, Southern Alameda, and San Mateo Counties, where density is lowest, and consequently, operational cost is highest.[75]

BART ridership has grown rapidly since 2010, mirroring strong economic growth in the Bay Area; in 2015, the system was carrying approximately 100,000 more passengers each day than it had five years earlier.[78] High gasoline prices also contributed to growth, pushing ridership to record levels during 2012, with the system recording five record ridership days in September and October 2012,[79] during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, BART recorded an average weekday ridership of 423,395, the second-highest in its history, but a 2.3% drop from 2016.[1] Ridership growth began to slow in late 2016, and dropped by 1.7% in October 2016 from the prior year.[80] The line to the San Francisco International Airport lost riders, while ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft grew by a factor of almost six or nearly 500% at the airport during 2014–2016.[81] BART planners believe that competition from Uber and Lyft is reducing overall ridership growth and BART's share of SFO airport transit,[82] some see the decline in transit use in large U.S. cities as part of a national trend, linked to changes in commute patterns, the fall in gasoline prices since 2014, and competition from the private sector in the form of ride-sharing services.[83][84]

BART's one-day ridership record was set on Halloween of 2012 with 568,061 passengers attending the San Francisco Giants' victory parade for their World Series championship,[90] this surpassed the record set two years earlier of 522,198 riders in 2010 for the Giants' 2010 World Series victory parade.[91] Before that, the record was 442,100 riders in October 2009, following an emergency closure of the Bay Bridge.[92] During a planned closure of the Bay Bridge, there were 475,015 daily riders on August 30, 2013, making that the third highest ridership,[93] on June 19, 2015, BART recorded 548,078 riders for the Golden State Warriors championship parade, placing second on the all-time ridership list.[87]

BART set a Saturday record of 419,162 riders on February 6, 2016, coinciding with Super Bowl 50 events and a Golden State Warriors game,[88][94] that easily surpassed the previous Saturday record of 319,484 riders, which occurred in October 2012, coinciding with several sporting events and Fleet Week.[95] BART set a Sunday ridership record of 292,957 riders in June 2013, in connection with the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade,[96] surpassing Sunday records set the previous two years when the Pride Parade was held.[96]

Bus transit services connect to BART, which, while managed by separate agencies, are integral to the successful functioning of the system, including the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), AC Transit, SamTrans, County Connection, and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (Golden Gate Transit). Until 1997, BART ran its own "BART Express" connector buses,[98] which ran to eastern Alameda County and far eastern and western areas of Contra Costa County; these routes were later devolved to sub-regional transit agencies such as Tri Delta Transit and the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (WHEELS) or, in the case of Dublin/Pleasanton service, replaced by a full BART extension.

Many BART stations offer parking, however, under-pricing causes station parking lots to overflow in the morning.[99] Pervasive congestion and under-pricing forces some to drive to distant stations in search of parking.[100]

BART hosts car sharing locations at many stations, a program pioneered by City CarShare. Riders can transfer from BART and complete their journeys by car. BART offers long-term airport parking through a third-party vendor[101] at most East Bay stations. Travelers must make an on-line reservation in advance and pay the daily fee of $5 before they can leave their cars at the BART parking lot.

In 2004, BART became the first transit system in the United States to offer cellular telephone communication to passengers of all major wireless carriers on its trains underground.[103] Service was made available for customers of Verizon Wireless, Sprint/Nextel, AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile in and between the four San Francisco Market Street stations from Civic Center to Embarcadero. In 2009, service was expanded to include the Transbay Tube, thus providing continuous cellular coverage between West Oakland and Balboa Park;[104] in 2010, service was expanded to all underground stations in Oakland (19th Street, 12th Street/Oakland City Center, and Lake Merritt).[105] Uninterrupted cellular coverage of the entire BART system is a goal, as of 2012 passengers in both the Berkeley Hills tunnel and the Berkeley subway (Ashby, Downtown and North Berkeley) received cell service. The only section still not covered by cell service is a short tunnel that leads to Walnut Creek BART, and San Mateo County subway stations (including service to SFO and Millbrae).

In 2007, BART ran a beta test of Wi-Fi Internet access for travelers, it initially included the four San Francisco downtown stations: Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, and Civic Center. It included above ground testing to trains at BART's Hayward Test Track, the testing and deployment was extended into the underground interconnecting tubes between the four downtown stations and further. The successful demonstration provided for a ten-year contract with WiFi Rail, Inc. for the services throughout the BART right of way.[106] In 2008 the Wi-Fi service was expanded to include the Transbay Tube.[107] BART terminated[108] the relationship with Wi-Fi Rail in December 2014, citing that WiFi Rail had not submitted an adequate financial or technical plan for completing the network throughout the BART system.

In 2011 during the Charles Hill killing and aftermath BART disabled cell phone service to hamper demonstrators.[109] The ensuing controversy drew widespread coverage,[110] that raised legal questions about free speech rights of protesters and the federal telecommunications laws that relate to passengers;[111] in response, BART released an official policy on cutting off cell phone service.[112]

While the district includes all of the cities and communities in its jurisdiction, some of these cities do not have stations on the BART system, this has caused tensions among property owners in cities like Livermore who pay BART taxes but must travel outside the city to receive BART service.[118] In areas like Fremont, the majority of commuters do not commute in the direction that BART would take them (many Fremonters commute to San Jose, where there is currently no BART service), this would be alleviated with the completion of a BART-to-San Jose extension project and the opening of the Berryessa Station in San Jose.

In 2005, BART required nearly $300 million in funds after fares. About 37% of the costs went to maintenance, 29% to actual transportation operations, 24% to general administration, 8% to police services, and 4% to construction and engineering; in 2005, 53% of the budget was derived from fares, 32% from taxes, and 15% from other sources, including advertising, station retail space leasing, and parking fees.[119] BART reported a farebox recovery ratio of 75.67% in February 2016,[120] up from 2012's 68.2%.[121] BART train operators and station agents have a maximum salary of $62,000 per year with an average of $17,000 in overtime pay.[122] (BART management claimed that in 2013, union train operators and station agents averaged about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime, and pay a $92 monthly fee from that for health insurance.)[123]

BART, like other transit systems of the same era, endeavored to connect outlying suburbs with job centers in Oakland and San Francisco by building lines that paralleled established commuting routes of the region's freeway system,[124] the majority of BART's service area, as measured by percentage of system length, consists of low-density suburbs. Unlike the Chicago "L" or the London Underground, individual BART lines do not provide frequent local service. Within San Francisco city limits, Muni provides local light rail surface and subway service, and runs with smaller headways (and therefore provides more frequent service) than BART.

In the 1970s, BART had envisioned frequent local service, with headways as short as two minutes between trains on the quadruple-interlined section in San Francisco and six minutes on each individual line.[125] However, headways have fallen short of the original plans. While trains do arrive every three minutes on the quadruple-interlined section between West Oakland and Daly City during weekday commute hours, each individual line operates at 15 minute intervals.

BART could be characterized as a "commuter subway," since it has many characteristics of a regional commuter rail service, somewhat similar to S-Bahn services in Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland, such as lengthy lines that extend to the far reaches of suburbia, with significant distances between stations.[126][127] BART also possesses some of the qualities of a metro system[128] in the urban areas of San Francisco and Oakland; where multiple lines converge, it takes on the characteristics of an urban metro, including short headways and transfer opportunities to other lines. Urban stations are as close as one-half mile (800 m) apart, and have combined 2½- to 5-minute service intervals at peak times.

In January 1979, an electrical fire occurred on a train as it was passing through the Transbay Tube. One firefighter (Lt. William Elliott, 50, of the Oakland Fire Department) was killed in the effort to extinguish the blaze, since then, safety regulations have been updated.[129]

On October 14, 2008, track inspector James Strickland was struck and killed by a train as he was walking along a section of track between the Concord and Pleasant Hill stations. Strickland's death started an investigation into BART's safety alert procedures,[130] at the time of the accident, BART had assigned trains headed in opposite directions to a shared track for routine maintenance. BART came under further fire in February 2009 for allegedly delaying payment of death benefits to Strickland's family.[131]

On January 1, 2009, a BART Police officer, Johannes Mehserle, fatally shot Oscar Grant III.[132][133] BART held multiple public meetings to ease tensions led by BART Director Carole Ward Allen[134] who called on the BART Board to hire two independent auditors to investigate the shooting, and to provide recommendations to the board regarding BART Police misconduct.[135] Director Ward Allen established BART's first Police Department Review Committee and worked with Assemblyman Sandre Swanson to pass AB 1586 in the California State Legislature, which enforced civilian oversight of the BART Police Department.[136] BART Director Lynette Sweet said that "BART has not handled this [situation] correctly,"[137] and called for the BART police chief and general manager to step down, but only one other BART Director, Tom Radulovich, has supported such action.[138]

Eyewitnesses gathered direct evidence of the shooting with video cameras, which were later submitted to and disseminated by media outlets and watched hundreds of thousands of times[139] in the days following the shooting. Violent demonstrations occurred protesting the shooting.[140]

Mehserle was arrested and charged with murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris filed a US$25 million wrongful death claim against the district on behalf of Grant's daughter and girlfriend.[141] Oscar Grant III's father also filed a lawsuit claiming that the death of his son deprived him of his son's companionship.

Mehserle's trial was subsequently moved to Los Angeles following concerns that he would be unable to get a fair trial in Alameda County, on July 8, 2010, Mehserle was found guilty on a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.[142] He was released on June 13, 2011 and is now on parole.[143]

On July 3, 2011, two officers of the BART Police shot and killed Charles Hill at Civic Center Station in San Francisco. Hill was allegedly carrying a knife.[144]

On August 12, 2011, BART shut down cellphone services on the network for three hours in an effort to hamper possible protests against the shooting[145][146] and to keep communications away from protesters at the Civic Center station in San Francisco,[147] the shutdown caught the attention of Leland Yee and international media, as well as drawing comparisons to the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in several articles and comments.[148] Antonette Bryant, the union president for BART, added that, "BART have lost our confidence and are putting rider and employee safety at risk."[149]

Members of Anonymous broke into BART's website and posted names, phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail information on the Anonymous website.[150][151]

On August 15, 2011, there was more disruption in service at BART stations in downtown San Francisco.[152][153][154]The San Francisco Examiner reported that the protests were a result of the shootings, including that of Oscar Grant.[155][156] Demonstrations were announced by several activists, which eventually resulted in disruptions to service, the protesters have stated that they did not want their protests to results in closures, and accused the BART police of using the protests as an excuse for disruption.[157] Protesters vowed to continue their protests every Monday until their demands were met.

On August 29, 2011, a coalition of nine public interest groups led by Public Knowledge filed an Emergency Petition asking the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to declare "that the actions taken by the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (“BART”) on August 11, 2011 violated the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, when it deliberately interfered with access to Commercial Mobile Radio Service (“CMRS”) by the public" and "that local law enforcement has no authority to suspend or deny CMRS, or to order CMRS providers to suspend or deny service, absent a properly obtained order from the Commission, a state commission of appropriate jurisdiction, or a court of law with appropriate jurisdiction".[158][159]

In December 2011 BART adopted a new "Cell Service Interruption Policy" that only allows shutdowns of cell phone services within BART facilities "in the most extraordinary circumstances that threaten the safety of District passengers, employees and other members of public, the destruction of District property, or the substantial disruption of public transit service".[160] According to a spokesperson for BART, under the new policy the wireless phone system would not be turned off under circumstances similar to those in August 2011. Instead police officers would arrest individuals who break the law.[161]

In February 2012, the San Francisco District Attorney concluded that the BART Police Officer that shot and killed Charles Hill at the Civic Center BART station the previous July "acted lawfully in self defense" and will not face charges for the incident. A federal lawsuit filed against BART in January by Charles Hill's brother was proceeding.[162]

In March 2012, the FCC requested public comment on the question of whether or when the police and other government officials can intentionally interrupt cellphone and Internet service to protect public safety.[161]

On the afternoon of October 19, 2013, a BART employee and a contractor, who were inspecting tracks, were struck and killed near Walnut Creek by a train being moved for routine maintenance. A labor strike by BART's two major unions was underway at the time, which cause BART to use an undertrained operator. Instead of the usual 14 weeks of the training, the operator only received four, the BART trainer was not in the cab with the operator at the time of impact but was instead in the passenger compartment. BART was fined $600,000 for the incident.[163]

In the summer of 2017 BART came under severe criticism for 'politically correct' suppression of video evidence of crimes committed at Oakland stations, that spring and summer, in at least three incidents, 'gangs' of youths had swarmed stopped trains and attacked and robbed train riders.[164] BART's justification for the suppression of this evidence was “To release these videos would create a high level of racially insensitive commentary toward the district,” ... “And in addition it would create a racial bias in the riders against minorities on the trains.” According to a memo distributed to BART Directors, the agency didn't do a press release on the June 30 theft because it was a “petty crime” that would make BART look “crime ridden.” Furthermore, it would “unfairly affect and characterize riders of color, leading to sweeping generalizations in media reports.”

In July 2017, a BART rider created a website, bartcrimes.com, to disseminate information he thought BART makes very difficult to find on their website, intentionally making it inconvenient to access crime logs, which are public information. BART officials say crime rates remain low, but according to data requested by the San Francisco Chronicle after the mob robbery in April, figures showed a 45 percent increase in robberies aboard BART trains in its stations during the first quarter of the year.[165]

In September 2017, six people (victims of the robberies/assaults) filed suit against BART for gross negligence, claiming BART does not provide adequate security for its riders.[166]

^ abcChinn, Jerold (January 29, 2015). "Long wait ahead for longer BART trains". San Francisco Bay Area. Retrieved 2015-09-29. BART explains it has total of 662 trains, but about 535 are in service during peak commute times, about 86.5 percent of its fleet. BART said it runs more of its fleet than any other major transit agency despite having the oldest trains in the nation.

^ ab"BART Sustainable Communities Operations Analysis"(PDF). San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. June 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2014. Certain sections of the BART system are designed for 80 mph operations, however the maximum operating speed BART currently uses today is 70 mph. It is unlikely that 80 mph operating speeds will be used again due to the increase in motor wear and propulsion failures at the higher rate. There are also higher impacts on track maintenance; in addition, the 80 mph segments tend to be short, and the higher speed benefits are limited as train speeds become inconsistent.

^"Automatic Train Control in Rail Rapid Transit"(PDF). United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment. May 1, 1976. pp. 45–49. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Investigations of BART were undertaken by the California Senate, the California Legislative Analyst, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the National Transportation Safety Board. The cause of the accident was traced to a faulty crystal oscillator…

^"Legislative Analyst's Office 75th anniversary". Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) of the State of California. May 25, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2017. After the state legislature held a month-long series of hearings on the financial mismanagement at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Alan Post recommended the firing of BART’s general manager.

^"B.R. Stokes, ex-BART general manager, dies". San Francisco Chronicle. May 25, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2017. BART officials had to ask the Legislature for more money... but the price was high. Nearly all of the Bay Area's legislators said they would oppose giving BART money unless Mr. Stokes resigned, he quit May 24, 1974...

^"Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership". December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. BART officials told the agency’s Board of Directors...that increased Uber and Lyft ridership led to less passengers taking BART in 2016…BART’s overall ridership rate of growth “rapidly slowed,” according to a staff presentation. In October overall ridership was down to 438,000 trips for the average weekday, 1.7 percent less than the same time the year prior.

^"Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership". December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. BART’s train line to the San Francisco International Airport is losing riders and losing money. And that culprit is competition from the private sector, BART staff said. Uber and Lyft in particular have seen their ridership at SFO rise by almost six times over from 2014 to 2016, according to data provided by SFO to the San Francisco Examiner...BART’s SFO ridership was discussed during a presentation at the Board of Directors meeting.

^"Uber and Lyft use at SFO increases six-fold in two years, BART loses ridership". December 5, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. Uber and Lyft in particular have seen their ridership at SFO rise by almost six times over from 2014 to 2016, according to data provided by SFO to the San Francisco Examiner. BART officials told the agency’s Board of Directors at its regular meeting Thursday that increased Uber and Lyft ridership led to less passengers taking BART in 2016. “We believe Uber and Lyft are impacting our ridership,” Carter Mau, executive manager of BART’s office of planning and budget, told the San Francisco Examiner outside the meeting.

^"Ripple effect of Metro's troubles: plummeting bus ridership across the region". February 20, 2016. Retrieved December 8, 2016. falling bus ridership in the Washington region mirrors a national trend that experts say is due to a variety of factors, including changing job markets, falling gas prices and the growing popularity of other transportation options such as biking and app-based services such as Uber and Lyft.

^Richards, Gary (October 7, 2015). "Opening of BART Warm Springs station pushed back to next year". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2015-10-09. parking after 10 a.m. at any BART station is difficult. Here are the southern Alameda County stations where you might get lucky and find parking in this order: South Hayward, Hayward, Union City, West Dublin/Pleasanton and Castro Valley.... BART is testing the feasibility of posting real-time information that would let a driver check whether spots are available at a particular station. Right now, the best it can do is to provide estimates on its website for when parking lots will be full.

^Rachel Lackert (2012-05-01). "BART Cell Phone Service Shutdown: Time for a Virtual Forum?". Retrieved 2016-01-02. this unilateral action raised significant legal questions as to whether this was authorized under federal telecommunications law relating to the right of the passengers to access the telephone network and the legality of a shutdown by a quasi-governmental authority such as BART. Additionally, BART’s actions raised issues concerning the First Amendment rights of the passengers and protesters to freedom of speech and assembly.

^"Automatic Train Control in Rail Rapid Transit"(PDF). United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment. May 1, 1976. p. 46. Retrieved March 15, 2017. When BART reaches its full level of service, headways will be reduced to 2 minutes in San Francisco and 6 minutes elsewhere during peak periods...

1.
San Francisco Bay Area
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The San Francisco Bay Area is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco. The Bay Areas nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California, the fifth-largest in the United States, the Bay Area has the second-most Fortune 500 Companies in the United States, and is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is known locally as the East Bay, the inner East Bay is more densely populated, with generally older buildings, and a more ethnically diverse population. The word Lamorinda was coined by combining the names of the cities it includes, Lafayette, Moraga, walnut Creek is situated east of Lamorinda and north of the San Ramon Valley and, together with Concord, Martinez, and Pleasant Hill comprises Central Contra Costa County. The cities of Antioch, Pittsburg, Brentwood, Oakley and the areas surrounding them comprise East Contra Costa County. The Tri-Valley consists of the Amador, the Livermore, and the San Ramon Valleys, dublin and Pleasanton comprise the Amador Valley, Livermore lies in the Livermore Valley, and the San Ramon Valley consists of Alamo, Danville, Diablo and its namesake, San Ramon. The outer East Bay is connected to the inner East Bay by BART, Interstate 580 to the south, and State Routes State Route 4 to the north, the outer East Bays infrastructure was mostly built up after World War II. This area remains largely white demographically, although the Hispanic and Filipino populations have grown significantly over the past 2–3 decades, the region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the North Bay. This area encompasses Marin County, Sonoma County, Napa County, the city of Fairfield, being part of Solano County, is often considered the easternmost city of the North Bay. With few exceptions, this region is affluent, Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the state. The North Bay is relatively rural compared to the remainder of the Bay Area, with areas of undeveloped open space, farmland. Santa Rosa in Sonoma County is the North Bays largest city, with a population of 167,815 and a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 466,891, making it the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area. The North Bay is the section of the Bay Area that is not currently served by a commuter rail service. The area from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley, geographically part of the San Francisco Peninsula, is known locally as The Peninsula, many of these families are of foreign background and have significantly contributed to the diversity of the area. Whereas the term peninsula technically refers to the entire geographical San Franciscan Peninsula, in local terms, San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides, the north, east, and west. The city squeezes roughly 870,000 people in under 47 square miles, on any given day, there can be as many as 1 million people in the city because of the commuting population and tourism

2.
Alameda County, California
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Alameda County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,510,271, Alameda County is included in the San Francisco Bay Area, occupying much of the East Bay region. The county was formed on March 25,1853, from a portion of Contra Costa County. The Spanish word alameda means a place where trees grow. The willow and sycamore trees along the banks of the river reminded the early explorers of a road lined with trees, the county seat at the time it was formed was located at Alvarado, now part of Union City. In 1856 it was moved to San Leandro, where the county courthouse was destroyed by the devastating 1868 quake on the Hayward Fault, the county seat was then re-established in the town of Brooklyn from 1872-1875. Brooklyn is now part of Oakland, which has been the county seat since 1873, much of what is now considered an intensively urban region, with major cities, was developed as a trolley car suburb of San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The annual county fair is held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, the fair runs for three weekends from June to July. Attractions include horse racing, carnival rides, 4-H exhibits, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 821 square miles, of which 739 square miles is land and 82 square miles is water. The San Francisco Bay borders the county on the west, the crest of the Berkeley Hills form part of the northeastern boundary, and reach into the center of the county. A coastal plain several miles wide lines the bay, and is Oaklands most populous region, Livermore Valley lies in the eastern part of the county. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge A2014 analysis found Alameda County to be the 4th most racially diverse county in the United States, the 2010 United States Census reported that Alameda County had a population of 1,510,271. The population density was 2,047.6 people per square mile, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 339,889 persons,16. 4% Mexican,0. 8% Puerto Rican,0. 2% Cuban,5. 1% Other Hispanic. 26. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.31. In the county, the population was out with 24. 6% under the age of 18,9. 6% from 18 to 24,33. 9% from 25 to 44,21. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 96.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.00 males, the median income for a household in the county was $55,946, and the median income for a family was $65,857. Males had an income of $47,425 versus $36,921 for females

3.
Contra Costa County, California
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Contra Costa County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,049,025, the name is Spanish for opposite coast, referring to its position on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. Contra Costa County is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area and it occupies the northern portion of the East Bay region and is primarily suburban. In the northern part of the county, significant coal and sand deposits were formed in even earlier geologic eras, other areas of the county have ridges exposing ancient but intact seashells, embedded in sandstone layers alternating with limestone. Layers of volcanic ash ejected from geologically recent but now extinct volcanoes, compacted and now tilted by compressive forces, may be seen at the site of some road excavations. This county is an agglomeration of several distinct geologic terranes, as is most of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, younger deposits at middle altitudes include pillow lavas, the product of undersea volcanic eruptions. There is an extensive but little recorded human history pre-European settlement in this area, the earliest definitively established occupation by modern man appears to have occurred six to ten thousand years ago. However, there may have been human presence far earlier, at least as far as non–settling populations are concerned, extensive trading from tribe to tribe transferred exotic materials such as obsidian throughout the region from far distant Californian tribes. Unlike the nomadic Native American of the Great Plains it appears that these tribes did not incorporate warfare into their culture but were generally cooperative. Within these cultures the concept of individual or collective land ownership was nonexistent, early European settlers in the region, however, did not record much about the culture of the natives. Most of what is known comes from preserved contemporaneous and excavated artifacts. Although there were no missions established within this county, Spanish influence here was direct and extensive, in 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mission lands extended throughout the Bay Area, including portions of Contra Costa County, between 1836 and 1846, during the era when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 15 land grants were made in Contra Costa County. Rough surveying was based on a map, or diseño, measured by streams, shorelines, and/or horseman who marked it with rope, lands outside rancho grants were designated el sobrante, as in surplus or excess, and considered common lands. The law required the construction of a house within a year, fences were not required and were forbidden where they might interfere with roads or trails. Locally a large family required roughly 2000 head of cattle and two leagues of land to live comfortably. Foreign entrepreneurs came to the area to provide goods that Mexico couldn’t, Rancho Canada de los Vaqueros was granted to Francisco Alviso, Antonio Higuera, and Manuel Miranda. Two ranchos, both called Rancho San Ramon, were granted by the Mexican government in the San Ramon Valley, in 1833, Bartolome Pacheco and Mariano Castro shared the two square league Rancho San Ramon

4.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush

5.
San Mateo County, California
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San Mateo County is a county located in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 718,451, the county seat is Redwood City. San Mateo County is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the San Francisco Bay Area and it covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula. San Francisco International Airport is located at the end of the county. The countys built-up areas are mostly suburban with some areas being very urban, San Mateo County was formed in 1856 after San Francisco County, one of the states 18 original counties since Californias statehood in 1850, was split apart. Until 1856, San Franciscos city limits extended west to Divisadero Street and Castro Street, in response to the lawlessness and vigilantism that escalated rapidly between 1855 and 1856, the California government decided to divide the county. A straight line was drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. The consolidated city-county of San Francisco was formed by an introduced by Horace Hawes. San Mateo County was officially organized on 18 April 1857 under a bill introduced by Senator T. G, San Mateo County then annexed part of northern Santa Cruz County in March 1868, including Pescadero and Pigeon Point. Although the forming bill named Redwood City the county seat, a May 1856 election marked by unblushing frauds, perpetuated on an unorganized and wholly unprotected community by thugs and ballot stuffers from San Francisco named Belmont the county seat. The election results were declared illegal and the county government was moved to Redwood City, Redwood Citys status as county seat was upheld in two succeeding elections in May 1861 and 9 December 1873, defeating San Mateo and Belmont. Another election in May 1874 named San Mateo the county seat, but the supreme court overturned that election on 24 February 1875. San Mateo County bears the Spanish name for Saint Matthew, until about 1850, the name appeared as San Matheo. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 741 square miles. It is the third-smallest county in California by land area, a number of bayside watercourses drain the eastern part of the county including San Bruno Creek and Colma Creek. Streams draining the county include Frenchmans Creek, Pilarcitos Creek, Naples Creek, Arroyo de en Medio. These streams originate along the spur of the Santa Cruz Mountains that run through the county. San Mateo County straddles the San Francisco Peninsula, with the Santa Cruz Mountains running its entire length, the county encompasses a variety of habitats including estuarine, marine, oak woodland, redwood forest, coastal scrub and oak savannah

6.
Rapid transit
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Rapid transit, also known as heavy rail, metro, subway, tube, or underground, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains and they are typically integrated with other public transport and often operated by the same public transport authorities. However, some transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines. It is unchallenged in its ability to transport large numbers of people quickly over short distances with little use of land, variations of rapid transit include people movers, small-scale light metro, and the commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn. The worlds first rapid-transit system was the partially underground Metropolitan Railway which opened as a railway in 1863. In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, china has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world. The worlds longest single-operator rapid transit system by length is the Shanghai Metro. The worlds largest single rapid transit service provider by both length of revenue track (665 miles and number of stations is the New York City Subway. The busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Tokyo subway system, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the Moscow Metro, the Beijing Subway, Metro is the most common term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. One of these terms may apply to a system, even if a large part of the network runs at ground level. In Scotland, however, the Glasgow Subway underground rapid transit system is known as the Subway, in the US, underground mass transit systems are primarily known as subways, whereas the term metro is a shortened reference to a metropolitan area. In that vein, Chicagos commuter rail system, serving the area, is called Metra. Exceptions in naming rapid transit systems are Washington DCs subway system the Washington Metro, Los Angeles Metro Rail, and the Miami Metrorail, the opening of Londons steam-hauled Metropolitan Railway in 1863 marked the beginning of rapid transit. Initial experiences with steam engines, despite ventilation, were unpleasant, experiments with pneumatic railways failed in their extended adoption by cities. Electric traction was more efficient, faster and cleaner than steam, in 1890 the City & South London Railway was the first electric-traction rapid transit railway, which was also fully underground. Both railways were merged into London Underground. The 1893 Liverpool Overhead Railway was designed to use electric traction from the outset, budapest in Hungary and Glasgow, Chicago and New York all converted or purpose-designed and built electric rail services. Advancements in technology have allowed new automated services, hybrid solutions have also evolved, such as tram-train and premetro, which incorporate some of the features of rapid transit systems

7.
Automated guideway transit
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Automated guideway transit is a fully automated, driverless, grade-separated transit system in which vehicles are automatically guided along a guideway. The vehicles are often rubber tired, but other systems including steel wheels, air cushion, the guideway normally provides both physical support, like a road, as well as the guidance. In the case of systems, the two are often the same in the same way that a rail line provides both support and guidance for a train. For systems with multiple routes, most AGT systems use smaller wheels riding on the guideway to steer the vehicle using conventional steering arrangements like those on a car. AGT covers a variety of systems, from limited people mover systems, like those commonly found at airports. In the people mover role the term automated people mover is sometimes used, between the two are larger vehicles sized for around 20 passengers, sometimes known as group rapid transit, which blend features of the PRTs and larger systems. Subways were too expensive to install in areas of lower density - smaller cities or the suburbs of larger ones - which often suffer the same problems as larger cities. Buses could be introduced in these areas, but did not offer the capacities or speeds that made them an attractive alternative to car ownership. Cars drive directly from origin to destination, while buses generally work on a model that can up to double trip length. Stops along the route increase this even more, AGT offered a solution that fit between these extremes. Much of the cost of a system is due to the large vehicle sizes. The large vehicles are a side-effect of the need to have space between the vehicles, known as headway, for safety reasons due to the limited sightlines in tunnels. Given large headways and limited speed due to stops, the only way to increase passenger capacity is to increase the size of the vehicle. Headway can be reduced via automation, a technique that was becoming feasible in the 1960s, everything from track supports to station size can be reduced, with similar reductions in capital costs. Additionally, the vehicles allow for a wider variety of suspension methods, from conventional steel wheels, to rubber tires, air cushion vehicles. Since the system has to be automated in order to reduce the headways enough to be worthwhile, one key problem in an automated system is the negotiation of turns in the right-of-way - the steering system. The simplest solution is to use a rigid guideway, like conventional rails or steel rollercoasters, for lighter AGTs, these solutions were over-specified given the size of the vehicle, so the guideway was often separate from the running surface. A suspension-like system is needed to out the imperfections in the guideway

8.
Kaiser Center
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The property is bounded by Lakeside Drive, which terminates and joins Harrison Street at the site, 20th-, 21st-, and Webster-streets. When completed in 1960, it was Oaklands tallest building, as well as the largest office tower west of the Rocky Mountains, a three-story office/retail building adjacent to the main tower was completed in 1963. Kaiser Center was the headquarters of Kaiser Industries, a Fortune 500 conglomerate that was headed by industrialist Edgar F. Kaiser at the time the building was constructed. The buildings roof garden was designed by San Francisco-based landscape architecture firm, Theodore Osmundson & Associates, other tenants include the University of California Office of the President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, The Port Company, and California Bank & Trust. Global technical services company AECOM is set to move into the building in 2016, official website Kaiser Center at The Swig Company Historic American Landscapes Survey No. CA-3, Kaiser Center,300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, Alameda County, CA,22 photos,18 measured drawings,6 data pages,3 photo caption pages

9.
Oakland, California
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Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island

10.
Grade separation
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The composition of such transport axes does not have to be uniform, it can consist of a mixture of roads, footpaths, railways, canals, or airport runways. Bridges, tunnels, or a combination of both can be built at a junction to achieve the grade separation. Roads with grade separation generally allow traffic to move freely, with interruptions, and at higher overall speeds. In addition, less trouble between traffic movements reduces the risk of accidents, grade-separated road junctions are typically space-intensive, complicated, and costly, due to the need for large physical structures such as tunnels, ramps, and bridges. Their height can be obtrusive, and this, combined with the traffic volumes that grade-separated roads attract, tend to make them unpopular to nearby landowners. For these reasons, proposals for new grade-separated roads can receive significant public opposition, however, they require significant engineering effort, and are very expensive and time-consuming to construct. Grade-separated pedestrian and cycling routes often require modest space since they do not typically intersect with the facility that they cross, grade-separation can create accessibility problems for people with disabilities due to the vertical gradient required to pass or to reach rail platforms. The term is most widely applied to describe a road junction in which the flow of traffic on one or more of the roads is not disrupted. Instead of a connection, traffic must use on and off ramps or slip roads to access the other roads at the junction. The road which carries on through the junction can also be referred to as grade separated, typically, large freeways, highways, motorways, or dual carriageways are chosen to be grade separated, through their entire length or for part of it. Grade separation drastically increases the capacity of a road compared to a road with at-grade junctions. For instance, it is uncommon to find an at-grade junction on a British motorway, it is all. Interstate Highway, though a few do exist, if traffic can traverse the junction from any direction without being forced to come to a halt, then the junction is described as fully grade separated or free-flowing. These junctions connect two freeways, Stack interchange Cloverleaf interchange These junctions connect two roads, but only one is fully grade-separated, i. e. This situation is most prevalent either where the designer has placed the on-slip to the road before the off-slip at a junction. Weaving can be alleviated by using collector/distributor roads to separate entering and exiting traffic, attempts have been made to increase the capacity of railways by making tracks cross in a grade-separated manner, as opposed to the traditional use of flat crossings to change tracks. A grade-separated rail interchange is known as a junction and one which is not a level junction. Also in Britain, the Southern Railway later made use of flying junctions on other parts of its busy former LSWR main line

11.
Elevated railway
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An elevated railway is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure. The railway may be standard gauge, narrow gauge, light rail, monorail, Elevated railways are usually used in urban areas where there would otherwise be a large number of level crossings. Most of the time, the tracks of elevated railways that run on steel viaducts can be seen from street level, the earliest elevated railway was the London and Greenwich Railway on a brick viaduct of 878 arches, built between 1836 and 1838. The first 2.5 miles of the London and Blackwall Railway was also on a viaduct, during the 1840s there were other schemes for elevated railways in London which did not come to fruition. From the late 1860s elevated railways became popular in US cities, the New York West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway operated with cable cars from 1868 to 1870, thereafter locomotive-hauled. This was followed by the Manhattan Railway in 1875, the South Side Elevated Railroad, Chicago, the Chicago transit system itself is known as L, short for elevated. The Berlin Stadtbahn is also mainly elevated, the first electric elevated railway was the Liverpool Overhead Railway, which operated through Liverpool docks from 1893 until 1956. In London, the Docklands Light Railway is an elevated railway that opened in 1987 and. The trains are driverless and automatic, another modern elevated railway is Tokyos driverless Yurikamome line, opened in 1995. Most monorails are elevated railways, such as the Disneyland Monorail System, the Tokyo Monorail, the Sydney Monorail, the KL Monorail, the Las Vegas Monorail, many maglev railways are also elevated. During the 1890s there was some interest in railways, particularly in Germany, with the Schwebebahn Dresden. H-Bahn suspension railways were built in Dortmund and Düsseldorf airport,1975, the Memphis Suspension Railway opened in 1982. Shonan Monorail and Chiba Urban Monorail in Japan, despite their names, are suspension railways too, People mover or automated people mover is a type of driverless grade-separated, mass-transit system. The term is used only to describe systems that serve as loops or feeder systems. Similar to monorails, Bombardier Innovia APM technology uses only one rail to guide the vehicle along the guideway, aPMs are common at airports and effective at helping passengers quickly reach their gates. Elevator Grade separation Monorail Railway Rapid transit People mover Trackless

12.
Headway
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Headway is a measurement of the distance or time between vehicles in a transit system. The minimum headway is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles, a shorter headway signifies a more frequent service. Headway is a key input in calculating the overall capacity of any transit system. A system that requires large headways has more empty space than passenger capacity, in this case, the capacity has to be improved through the use of larger vehicles. On the other end of the scale, a system with short headways, like cars on a freeway, the term is most often applied to rail transport, where low headways are often needed to move large numbers of people in mass transit railways. A lower headway requires more infrastructure, making lower headways expensive to achieve, modern large cities require passenger rail systems with tremendous capacity, and low headways allow passenger demand to be met in all but the busiest cities. Newer signalling systems and moving block controls have significantly reduced headways in modern systems compared to the lines only a few years ago. In principle, automated personal rapid transit systems and automobile platoons could reduce headways to as little as fractions of a second, there are a number of different ways to measure and express the same concept, the distance between vehicles. The differences are due to historical development in different countries or fields. The term developed from use, where the distance between the trains was very great compared to the length of the train itself. In the case of a system, train lengths are uniformly short. Where vehicle size varies and may be longer than their stopping distances or spacing, as freight trains and highway applications. The units of measure also vary, the most common terminology is to use the time of passing from one vehicle to the next, which closely mirrors the way the headways were measured in the past. A timer is started when one passes a point, and then measures time until the next one passes. This same measure can also be expressed in terms of vehicles-per-hour, distance measurements are somewhat common in non-train applications, like vehicles on a road, but time measurements are common here as well. Train movements in most rail systems are controlled by railway signalling systems. In many railways drivers are given instructions on speeds, and routes through the rail network, trains can only accelerate and decelerate relatively slowly, so stopping from anything but low speeds requires several hundred metres or even more. The track distance required to stop is often longer than the range of the drivers vision

13.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide

14.
5 ft 6 in gauge railway
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5 ft 6 in/​1,676 mm gauge is a broad track gauge commonly used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Chile, but is also used on BART, in the San Francisco Bay Area, United States. It is historically known as Broad gauge in South Asia or Provincial gauge and it is the widest gauge in regular use anywhere in the world. See 5 ft 6 in gauge in Scotland This gauge was first used in Scotland for two short, isolated lines, the Dundee and Arbroath Railway and the Arbroath and Forfar Railway. However, soon there were disagreements with Lord Dalhousie favoring a 6 ft gauge and Mr. Simms, the consulting engineer favoring five feet and six inches gauge. The debate was settled in favor of the five and half feet gauge, called the broad gauge in 1850s. In the late 20th century, India adopted Project Unigauge, Gauge conversion towards Indian gauge is underway, replacing several narrow gauges and metre gauges. Pakistan uses primarily broad gauge, but also has a mix of metre gauge, the Bangladesh Railways uses a mix of broad gauge and metre gauge. The broad gauge network is located to the west of the Jamuna River. The Jamuna Bridge is a mixed use bridge that contains a gauge connection across the river linking both networks. Sri Lanka previously had a mix of broad gauge and other narrow gauges, however, all services currently operate on broad gauge as the other lines have either been closed or converted. In the 1850s it was first used in Canada, and was used in other British colonies. It was known as the Provincial gauge in Canada, the earliest railways in Canada, including the 1836 Champlain and St. Lawrence,1839 Albion Colliery tramway and 1847 Montreal and Lachine Railway were all built to standard gauge. The Grand Trunk Railway which operated in several Canadian provinces and American states used it, the Grand Trunk Railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, but corporate headquarters were in London, England. The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad which operated in Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire, there is a longstanding rumour that the Provincial gauge was selected specifically to create a break-of-gauge with US railways, the War of 1812 still being a fresh memory. However, there is supporting evidence for this, and this story appears to be traced to a single claim from the late 1800s. The Bay Area Rapid Transit system is the operating railroad in the United State to use Indian gauge. The original engineers for the system had background in aerospace and intended to make a system for other municipalities to emulate. The use of Indian gauge rails was one of many design elements included in its design

15.
Minimum railway curve radius
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The minimum railway curve radius is the shortest allowable design radius for railway tracks under a particular set of conditions. It has an important bearing on costs and operating costs and, in combination with superelevation in the case of train tracks. Minimum radius of curve is one parameter in the design of vehicles as well as trams. Monorails and guideways are also subject to minimum radii, the first proper railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Like the trams that had preceded it over a hundred years, among other reasons for the gentle curves were the lack of strength of the track, which might have overturned if the curves were too sharp causing derailments. There was no signalling at this time, so drivers had to be able to see ahead to avoid collisions with previous trains, the gentler the curves, the longer the visibility. The earliest rails were made in lengths of wrought iron. Minimum curve radii for railroads are governed by the speed operated, for handling of long freight trains, a minimum 717-foot radius is preferred. The sharpest curves tend to be on the narrowest of narrow gauge railways, as the need for more powerful locomotives grew, the need for more driving wheels on a longer, fixed wheelbase grew too. But long wheel bases are unfriendly to sharp curves, various types of articulated locomotives were devised to avoid having to operate multiple locomotives with multiple crews. More recent diesel and electric locomotives do not have a wheelbase problem and this is particularly true of the European buffer and chain couplers, where the buffers extend the profile of the railcar body. For a line with maximum speed 60 km/h, buffer-and-chain couplings reduce the radius to around 200 m. A long heavy freight train, especially those with wagons of mixed loading, may struggle on sharp curves, common solutions include, marshalling light and empty wagons at rear of train intermediate locomotives, including remotely controlled ones. Easing curves reduced speeds reduced cant, at the expense of fast passenger trains, equalizing wagon loading better driver training driving controls that display drawgear forces. And c2013 Electronically Controlled Pneumatic brakes, a similar problem occurs with harsh changes in gradients. To counter this, a cant is used, ideally the train should be tilted such that resultant force acts straight down through the bottom of the train, so the wheels, track, train and passengers feel little or no sideways force. Some trains are capable of tilting to enhance this effect for passenger comfort, because freight and passenger trains tend to move at different speeds and weigh dramatically different, a cant cannot be ideal for both types of rail traffic. The relationship between speed and tilt can be calculated mathematically, the values used when building high-speed railways vary, and depend on desired wear and safety levels

16.
Railway electrification system
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A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure, selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas, some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation, Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network, some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own lines, switches and transformers. Power is supplied to moving trains with a continuous conductor running along the track usually takes one of two forms. The first is a line or catenary wire suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings. Locomotives or multiple units pick up power from the wire with pantographs on their roofs that press a conductive strip against it with a spring or air pressure. Examples are described later in this article, the second is a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding pickup shoe. Both overhead wire and third-rail systems usually use the rails as the return conductor. In comparison to the alternative, the diesel engine, electric railways offer substantially better energy efficiency, lower emissions. Electric locomotives are usually quieter, more powerful, and more responsive and they have no local emissions, an important advantage in tunnels and urban areas. Different regions may use different supply voltages and frequencies, complicating through service, the limited clearances available under catenaries may preclude efficient double-stack container service. Possible lethal electric current due to risk of contact with high-voltage contact wires, overhead wires are safer than third rails, but they are often considered unsightly. These are independent of the system used, so that. The permissible range of voltages allowed for the voltages is as stated in standards BS EN50163. These take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation, railways must operate at variable speeds. Until the mid 1980s this was only practical with the brush-type DC motor, since such conversion was not well developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most early electrified railways used DC and many still do, particularly rapid transit and trams

17.
Third rail
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A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a transit or rapid transit system. Third rail systems are supplied from direct current electricity. The third-rail system of electrification is unrelated to the third used in dual gauge railways. Third-rail systems are a means of providing electric power to trains. On most systems, the rail is placed on the sleeper ends outside the running rails. The conductor rail is supported on ceramic insulators or insulated brackets, the trains have metal contact blocks called shoes which make contact with the conductor rail. The traction current is returned to the station through the running rails. The conductor rail is made of high conductivity steel. The conductor rails have to be interrupted at level crossings, crossovers, tapered rails are provided at the ends of each section, to allow a smooth engagement of the trains contact shoes. Because third rail systems present electric shock hazards close to the ground, a very high current must therefore be used to transfer adequate power, resulting in high resistive losses, and requiring relatively closely spaced feed points. The electrified rail threatens electrocution of anyone wandering or falling onto the tracks. This can be avoided by using platform screen doors, or the risk can be reduced by placing the rail on the side of the track away from the platform. There is also a risk of pedestrians walking onto the tracks at level crossings, the Paris Metro has graphic warning signs pointing out the danger of electrocution from urinating on third rails, precautions which Chicago did not have. The end ramps of conductor rails present a practical limitation on speed due to the impact of the shoe. The world speed record for a rail train is 174 km/h attained on 11 April 1988 by a British Class 442 EMU. In the event of a collision with an object, the beveled end ramps of bottom running systems can facilitate the hazard of having third rail penetrate the interior of a passenger car. This is believed to have contributed to the death of five passengers in the Valhalla train crash of 2015, third rail systems using top contact are prone to accumulations of snow, or ice formed from refrozen snow, and this can interrupt operations

18.
Volt
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The volt is the derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. One volt is defined as the difference in potential between two points of a conducting wire when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power between those points. It is also equal to the difference between two parallel, infinite planes spaced 1 meter apart that create an electric field of 1 newton per coulomb. Additionally, it is the difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of charge that passes through it. It can also be expressed as amperes times ohms, watts per ampere, or joules per coulomb, for the Josephson constant, KJ = 2e/h, the conventional value KJ-90 is used, K J-90 =0.4835979 GHz μ V. This standard is typically realized using an array of several thousand or tens of thousands of junctions. Empirically, several experiments have shown that the method is independent of device design, material, measurement setup, etc. in the water-flow analogy sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them with water-filled pipes, voltage is likened to difference in water pressure. Current is proportional to the diameter of the pipe or the amount of water flowing at that pressure. A resistor would be a reduced diameter somewhere in the piping, the relationship between voltage and current is defined by Ohms Law. Ohms Law is analogous to the Hagen–Poiseuille equation, as both are linear models relating flux and potential in their respective systems, the voltage produced by each electrochemical cell in a battery is determined by the chemistry of that cell. Cells can be combined in series for multiples of that voltage, mechanical generators can usually be constructed to any voltage in a range of feasibility. High-voltage electric power lines,110 kV and up Lightning, Varies greatly. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of metals to produce electricity was zinc. In 1861, Latimer Clark and Sir Charles Bright coined the name volt for the unit of resistance, by 1873, the British Association for the Advancement of Science had defined the volt, ohm, and farad. In 1881, the International Electrical Congress, now the International Electrotechnical Commission and they made the volt equal to 108 cgs units of voltage, the cgs system at the time being the customary system of units in science. At that time, the volt was defined as the difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. The international volt was defined in 1893 as 1/1.434 of the emf of a Clark cell and this definition was abandoned in 1908 in favor of a definition based on the international ohm and international ampere until the entire set of reproducible units was abandoned in 1948. Prior to the development of the Josephson junction voltage standard, the volt was maintained in laboratories using specially constructed batteries called standard cells

19.
Direct current
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Direct current is a flow of electrical charge carriers that always takes place in the same direction. The current need not always have the magnitude, but if it is to be defined as dc. This contrasts with alternating current which varies the direction of flow, sources of direct current include power supplies, electrochemical cells and batteries, and photovoltaic cells and panels. The intensity, or amplitude, of a direct current might fluctuate with time, in some such cases the dc has an ac component superimposed on it. An example of this is the output of a cell that receives a modulated light communications signal. A source of dc is sometimes called a dc generator, batteries and various other sources of dc produce a constant voltage. This is called pure dc and can be represented by a straight, the peak and effective values are the same. The peak to peak value is zero because the instantaneous amplitude never changes, in some instances the value of a dc voltage pulsates or oscillates rapidly with time, in a manner similar to the changes in an ac wave. The unfiltered output of a wave or a full wave rectifier. In 1820, Hans Christian Orsted discovered that electrical current creates a magnetic field and this discovery made scientists relate magnetism to the electric phenomena. In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. He improved a 50-year-old idea using lower current electricity, a vacuum inside the globe and a small carbonized filament. At that time, the idea of lightning was not new. Edison not only invented an incandescent electric light, but an electric lighting system contained all the necessary elements to make the incandescent light safe, economical. Prior to 1879, direct current electricity had been used in lighting for the outdoors and it was in the 1880s when the modern electric utility industry began. It was an evolution from street lighting systems and from gas and it was located in Lower Manhattan, on Pearl Street. This station provided light and electricity to customers in a one square mile range, the station was called Thomas Edisons Pearl Street Electricity Generating Station. This station introduced four elements of an electric utility system, Efficient distribution, competitive price, reliable central generation

20.
History of Bay Area Rapid Transit
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Bay Area Rapid Transit, widely known by the acronym BART, is the main rail transportation system for the San Francisco Bay Area. It was envisioned as early as 1946 but the construction of the system began in the 1960s. The idea of an electric rail tube was first proposed in the early 1900s by Francis Borax Smith. There were also plans for a third-rail powered subway line under Market Street in the 1910s, much of BARTs current coverage area was once served by the electrified streetcar and interurban train network called the Key System. This early twentieth century system once had regular transbay traffic across the deck of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The final passenger run occurred on April 20,1958 and the system was soon dismantled in favor of automobiles and buses. Proposals for the rapid transit system now in service began in 1946 by Bay Area business leaders concerned with increased post-war migration. In 1951, Californias legislature created the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Commission to study the Bay Areas long-term transportation needs, nine Bay Area counties were included in the initial planning commission. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District was formed by the legislature in 1957, comprising the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco. Because Santa Clara County opted instead to first concentrate on its Expressway System, in 1959 a bill was passed in the state legislature that provided for the entire cost of construction of the tube to be paid for with surplus toll revenues from the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. This represented a significant portion of the total cost of the system, by 1961 a final plan for the new system was sent to the boards of supervisors of each of the five counties. This left Daly City as the southwest terminus, the withdrawal also resulted in the cancellation of the Geary Subway section of the system. The BART plans were approved by the voters of the three remaining participating counties in November 1962. The enormous tasks to be undertaken were daunting, the 3.2 miles Berkeley Hills Tunnel was constructed through active faults between Berkeley and Orinda in order to avoid further use of the Caldecott Tunnel. The centerpiece of the system, the 3.6 miles Transbay Tube, connected Oakland and it was constructed in 57 sections, each positioned and installed individually by sinking them into a dredged trough across the bay. BART constructed right-of-ways utilizing several rail and freeway corridors, the final ceremonial spike for the original system was placed in 1971. Service began on September 11,1972, reporting more than 100,000 passengers in its first five days. The Market Street Subway opened in November 3,1973 and the Transbay Tube finally opened on September 16,1974, linking the four branches to Daly City, Concord, Richmond, and Fremont

21.
Bay Area Rapid Transit expansion
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Throughout the history of Bay Area Rapid Transit, better known as BART, there have been plans to extend service to other areas. The Silicon Valley extension is under construction from Warm Springs to the Berryessa neighborhood station in San Jose, the Federal Transit Administration awarded $900 million for the project in 2012. The extension broke ground in 2012, and had scheduled for completion in 2016. Revenue service is expected in late 2017 or 2018, an infill station at Calaveras Blvd/SR237 in downtown Milpitas is optional, this station is not currently funded. The Milpitas station will be near Montague Expressway, co-located with the existing VTA Montague light rail station, service on this line will terminate at the Berryessa Station. The plan includes an option for a station at Railroad Avenue station in Pittsburg that would be built by that city, future expansions to the east could connect the eBART service to Oakley, Brentwood, Byron, and beyond to Tracy and Stockton. Revenue service between Pittsburg/Bay Point and Antioch is currently projected to begin in 2018, the original plan was for the extension to continue into downtown San Jose via subway. The originally-planned complete extension from Fremont to Santa Clara was projected to cost $6.1 billion, the plans for the downtown subway start with a portal before crossing under US101. The proposed Alum Rock subway station would be on North 28th Street between Julian Street and Santa Clara Street, the proposed Downtown San Jose station would be underneath Santa Clara Street spanning the block from 3rd Street to Market Street. The proposed Diridon/Arena station would be between SAP Center at San Jose and Diridon Station, which currently serves Amtrak, Caltrain, ACE, the BART subway would then turn north, following the Caltrain route, and exit to the surface at another portal after crossing under I-880. The proposed Santa Clara BART station would be co-located at the existing Santa Clara Caltrain station, separate construction plans by San Jose International Airport would bring a people-mover train to the Santa Clara BART/Caltrain/ACE/Amtrak station. For the subway segment in San Jose, VTA plans to use a tunnel boring machine for most of the length in order to reduce disruptions to downtown during construction, only the station locations would have cut and cover construction. This is different from how BART subways and stations were built in San Francisco and Oakland, the extension to downtown San Jose could open 2025 or later, contingent on approval of funding. Since Santa Clara County is not among the counties of the BART District. VTA allocated initial funds for constructing BART using the proceeds from a tax referendum which was passed by Santa Clara County voters in 2000. In 2004, the Federal Transit Administration decided to wait to fund the project, Santa Clara County voters passed Measure B in 2008, a ⅛-cent sales tax raise. San Jose voters passed Measure B in 2016, which allowed for final funding of the subway, an existing diesel commuter rail line, the Altamont Corridor Express, currently operates through Livermore. The two systems are linked, though not directly, by a shuttle bus which transfers passengers between the ACE Pleasanton station and the BART Dublin/Pleasanton station

22.
Bay Area Rapid Transit District
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The Bay Area Rapid Transit District is a special-purpose district body that governs the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in the California counties of Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco. The district originally included San Mateo and Marin Counties, San Mateo opted out, preferring to utilize funds to build their freeway system. BARTD is split into nine districts, each of which one board member. One board member acts as president, board members appoint five officers, General Manager, Controller-Treasurer, Independent Police Auditor, General Counsel, and District Secretary. Current board members include, Former board members include, Dan C, helix Zakhary Mallett Gail Murray Tom Radulovich

23.
BART Police
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The BART Police, officially the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, is the transit police agency of the BART rail system in the U. S. state of California. The department has three hundred police personnel including over two-hundred sworn peace officers. The chief, Kenton Rainey commands the agencys, law enforcement, parking, BART Police participates in a mutual aid agreement with other Bay Area law enforcement agencies. In 2011 and 2012 the department came under scrutiny due to several officers involved in fatalities of the rail systems patrons. When terrorism began to be treated as an active threat after the September 11 attacks. The police department hosts drills and participates in counter-terrorism working groups, the agency has an officer assigned full-time to the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force. Furthermore, an officer is designated as a mutual-aid, counter-terrorism. BARTs police dogs are certified in explosives detection, the stated goal of the BART Police Department is to build a more community-oriented police force that is tough on crime and strong on customer service. Zone commanders and their personnel form working partnerships with BART riders, employees, community groups, educational institutions, the goal is to ensure that personal safety, quality of life, and protection of property remain among BART’s top priorities for the stakeholders in its community. The police chiefs and sheriffs, forecasting that BART’s proposal would create jurisdictional disputes and inconsistent levels of police service, as a result, legislation was passed to form an autonomous law enforcement agency, the BART Police Department. During BART’s first 13 years of service, police officers reported to the transit district’s headquarters in Oakland. In 1985, a team of officers was assigned to report to the Concord transportation facility, by not having to travel the 20 miles between Oakland and Concord, the officers were able to patrol their beats longer and become more familiar with the community. BART riders, station agents, and train operators benefited from having more police presence and this led to three additional field offices within six months. In July 1993, then-police chief Harold Taylor recommended a plan to decentralize the department into four geographical police zones, each with its own headquarters. Zone commanders would be given personnel, equipment, and resources to manage their respective police operations, Police command-level officers provide input to planners for BART’s future extensions to Warm Springs and Santa Clara County. BART Police formerly had a shield type badge, but recently switched to the 7-point star style traditional to Bay Area law enforcement. Uniforms are dark blue, similar to SFPD, in 2001 a mentally ill man named Bruce Edward Seward was shot by an officer at the Hayward Station. Reportedly the sleeping passenger awoke and grabbed the officers nightstick causing the officer to shoot him

24.
Public transport
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Public transport modes include city buses, trolleybuses, trams and passenger trains, rapid transit and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail, high-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world. Most public transport runs to a timetable, with the most frequent services running to a headway. Share taxis offer services in many parts of the world. Paratransit is sometimes used in areas of low demand and for people who need a door-to-door service, there are distinct differences in urban public transit between Asia, North America, and Europe. In Asia, mass transit operations are run by profit-driven privately owned and publicly traded mass transit. In North America, mass transit operations are run by municipal transit authorities. In Europe, mass transit operations are run by both state-owned and private companies. Public transport services can be profit-driven by use of pay-by-the-distance fares or funded by government subsidies in which flat rate fares are charged to each passenger. Services can be profitable through high ridership numbers and high farebox recovery ratios, or can be regulated. Fully subsidized, zero-fare services operate in some towns and cities, for geographical, historical and economic reasons, there are differences internationally regarding use and extent of public transport. It has 3,400 members from 92 countries, conveyances designed for public hire are as old as the first ferries, and the earliest public transport was water transport, on land people walked or rode an animal. Ferries appear in Greek mythology—corpses in ancient Greece were buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay the ferryman Charon to take them to Hades, the omnibus was introduced to London in July 1829. The first passenger railway opened in 1806, it ran between Swansea and Mumbles in southwest Wales in the United Kingdom. In 1825 George Stephenson built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in northeast England, the usability of different types of public transport, and its overall appeal, can be measured by seven criteria, although they overlap somewhat. These are speed, comfort, safety, cost, proximity, speed is calculated from total journey time including transfers. Proximity means how far passengers have to walk or otherwise travel before they can begin the public transport leg of their journey, timeliness is how long they have to wait for the vehicle. Directness records how far a journey using public transport deviates from the shortest route, an airline provides scheduled service with aircraft between airports

25.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565

26.
Passenger rail terminology
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It uses passenger railcars operating singly or in multiple unit trains on fixed rails. It operates on separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded and it uses sophisticated signaling systems, and high platform loading. Originally, the rapid transit was used in the 1800s to describe new forms of quick urban public transportation that had a right-of-way separated from street traffic. This set rapid transit apart from horsecars, trams, streetcars, omnibuses, though the term was almost always used to describe rail transportation, other forms of transit were sometimes described by their proponents as rapid transit, including local ferries in some cases. The term bus rapid transit has recently come into use to describe bus lines with features to speed their operation and these usually have more characteristics of light rail than rapid transit. They are consequently designed for operations in tunnel, viaducts or on surface level, in different parts of the world Metro systems are also known as the underground, the subway or the tube. Rail systems with specific construction issues operating on a segregated guideway are also treated as Metros as long as they are designated as part of the public transport network. ”Metropolitan railways are used for high capacity public transportation. They can operate in trains of up to 10 cars, carrying 1800 passengers or more, in Germany, the terms U-Bahn and S-Bahn are used. Some metro systems run on rubber tires but are based on the same principles as steel wheel systems. Subway used in a transit sense refers to either a rapid transit system using heavy rail or a light system that goes underground. The term may only to the underground parts of the system. Some lines described as subway use light rail equipment, notably, Bostons Green Line and the Newark City Subway, each about half underground, originated from fully surface streetcar lines. Sometimes the term is qualified, such as in Philadelphia, where trolleys operate in a subway for part of their route. In some cities where subway is used, it refers to the system, in others. Historic posters referred to Chicagos Red & Blue lines as the subway lines, interestingly, when the Boston subway was originally built, the subway label was only used for sections into which streetcars operated, and the rapid transit sections were called tunnels. Bus subways are uncommon but do exist, though in cases the non-underground portions of route are not called subways. Bus subways are built to provide an exclusive right-of-way for bus rapid transit lines. These are usually called by the bus rapid transit

27.
Oakland International Airport
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Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States. It is located approximately 10 miles south of Downtown and it is owned by the Port of Oakland. The airport has service to cities in the United States, Mexico. Cargo flights fly to cities in the United States, Canada, Oakland is a focus city for Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air. As of August 2015 Southwest has 120 daily departures on peak-travel days of the week, Alaska Airlines combined with sister-carrier Horizon Air has been the second-busiest carrier at the airport through 2013. In January 2014, Delta overtook Alaska as the airports No.2 carrier, the top five airlines by passenger count between October 2014 – September 2015 were Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways. Between October 2014 and September 2015,10,947,066 people traveled through OAK, in 2009, OAK had the highest on-time arrival percentage among the 40 busiest North American airports. The city of Oakland looked into the construction of an airport starting in 1925, in 1927 the announcement of the Dole prize for a flight from California to Hawaii provided the incentive to purchase 680 acres in April 1927 for the airport. The 7, 020-foot-long runway was the longest in the world at the time, the airport was dedicated by Charles Lindbergh September 17. Earhart departed from this airport when she made her final, ill-fated voyage, Boeing Air Transport began scheduled flights to Oakland in December 1927. It was joined by Trans World Airlines in 1932, in 1929, Boeing opened the Boeing School of Aeronautics on the field, which expanded rapidly in 1939 as part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Thousands of pilots and mechanics were trained before the facility was changed into the United Air Lines training center in 1945, armed Forces temporarily took over Oakland Airport and opened Naval Air Station Oakland. It was transformed into a base for military flights to the Pacific islands. After the war, airlines slowly returned to Oakland, Western Airlines began flights in 1946, and was followed by American Airlines, TWA, United, Transocean Airlines and Pacific Southwest Airlines. The airports first Jet Age airline terminal was designed by John Carl Warnecke & Associates and opened in 1962, part of a $20 million expansion on bay fill that included the 10, 000-foot runway 11/29. The May 1963 OAG showed 15 airline flights arriving in Oakland each day, including nine from San Francisco, in June 1963, TWA flew Oaklands first scheduled jet, by the late 1960s, World Airways had broken ground on the World Airways Maintenance Center at Oakland International Airport. The maintenance hangar could store four Boeing 747s, after the war Oaklands traffic slumped, but airline deregulation prompted several low-fare carriers to begin flights. This increase prompted the airport to build a $16.3 million second terminal, in 1987 an Air France Concorde visited Oakland to provide supersonic two-hour flights to the Pacific halfway to Hawaii and back to Oakland

28.
Branch line
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A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line, david Blyth Hanna, the first president of the Canadian National Railway, said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are essential to make main lines pay. Many British branch lines were closed as a result of the Beeching Axe in the 1960s, the smallest branch line that is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town. Operating on a track, the journey is 0.8 miles long. Examples of spur lines in Singapore include, Changi Extension Line, examples of spur lines in Hong Kong include, Lok Ma Chau Spur Line, South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line, Racecourse Spur Line. In North America, little-used branch lines are sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. They were typically built to standards, utilizing lighter rail. In the United States, abandonment of branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act. The Princeton Branch is a rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit in the U. S. state of New Jersey. The line is a branch of the Northeast Corridor Line. Also known as the Dinky Line, at 2.9 mi it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes,47 seconds, New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury, Otago, and Southland. Many were built in the late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming, today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as mines, logging operations, large dairying factories. In Auckland and Wellington, two lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see the list of New Zealand railway lines

29.
Diesel multiple unit
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A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages and they may also be referred to as a railcar or railmotor, depending on country. Diesel-powered units may be classified by their transmission type, diesel-electric. The diesel engine may be located above the frame in a bay or under the floor. Driving controls can be at both ends, on one end, or none, DMUs are usually classified by the method of transmitting motive power to their wheels. In a diesel-mechanical multiple unit the rotating energy of the engine is transmitted via a gearbox and driveshaft directly to the wheels of the train, like a car. The transmissions can be shifted manually by the driver, as in the majority of first-generation British Rail DMUs. In a diesel-hydraulic multiple unit, a torque converter, a type of fluid coupling. Some units feature a mix of hydraulic and mechanical transmissions, usually reverting to the latter at higher operating speeds as this decreases engine RPM. In a diesel-electric multiple unit a diesel engine drives a generator or an alternator which produces electrical energy. The generated current is fed to electric traction motors on the wheels or bogies in the same way as a conventional diesel electric locomotive. In modern DEMUs, such as the Bombardier Voyager family, each car is entirely self-contained and has its own engine, generator, a train composed of DMU cars scales well, as it allows extra passenger capacity to be added at the same time as motive power. It also permits passenger capacity to be matched to demand, and for trains to be split and it is not necessary to match the power available to the size and weight of the train, as each unit is capable of moving itself. As units are added, the power available to move the train increases by the necessary amount, distribution of the propulsion among the cars also results in a system that is less vulnerable to single-point-of-failure outages. Many classes of DMU are capable of operating with faulty units still in the consist, because of the self-contained nature of diesel engines, there is no need to run overhead electric lines or electrified track, which can result in lower system construction costs. Such advantages must be weighed against the noise and vibration that may be an issue with this type of train. DMUs were first introduced to Australia in the late mid-20th century for use on branch lines that could not justify a locomotive hauled service. Today, DMUs are widely used throughout Australias southern states, Adelaide Metro uses a variety of DMUs on their suburban network, NSW TrainLink use Xplorer DMUs on services from Sydney to Canberra, Griffith, Broken Hill, Armidale and Moree

30.
Standard Guage
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The standard gauge is a widely used railway track gauge. Approximately 55% of the lines in the world are this gauge, all high-speed rail lines, except those in Russia, Uzbekistan, and Finland, are standard gauge. The distance between the edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States. It is also called the UIC gauge or UIC track gauge, as railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge to be used. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a gauge of 1435 mm. In North East England, some lines in colliery areas were 4 ft 8 in. All these lines had been widened to standard gauge by 1846, parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. However, until well into the half of the 19th century, Britain. The American gauges converged as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent, notably, all the 5 ft broad gauge track in the South was converted to standard gauge over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. See Track gauge in the United States, snopes categorized this legend as false, but commented that. It is perhaps more fairly labelled as True, but for trivial, the historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles approximately 5 feet apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts. Others were 4 ft 4 in or 4 ft 7 1⁄2 in, the English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for the coal mines of County Durham. He favoured 4 ft 8 in for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham, the Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge. Stephensons Stockton and Darlington railway was primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees. The initial gauge of 4 ft 8 in was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge, George Stephenson used the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The success of this led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, authorised 1824 and opened 1825, used 4 ft 6 in, Dundee and Newtyle Railway, authorised 1829 and opened 1831, used 4 ft 6 1⁄2 in

31.
San Jose, California
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San Jose, officially the City of San José, is the economic, cultural, and political center of Silicon Valley and the largest city in Northern California. With an estimated 2015 population of 1,026,908, it is the third most populous city in California and the tenth most populous in United States. Located in the center of the Santa Clara Valley, on the shore of San Francisco Bay. San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County, the most affluent county in California. San Jose is the largest city in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area, which contain 7.7 million and 8.7 million people respectively. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the area around San Jose was inhabited by the Ohlone people, San Jose was founded on November 29,1777, as the Pueblo of San José de Guadalupe, the first civilian town founded in Spanish Alta California. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Jose became the states first capital, following World War II, San Jose experienced an economic boom, with a rapid population growth and aggressive annexation of nearby cities and communities carried out in the 1950s and 60s. The rapid growth of the high-technology and electronics industries further accelerated the transition from a center to an urbanized metropolitan area. Results of the 1990 U. S. Census indicated that San Jose had officially surpassed San Francisco as the most populous city in Northern California, by the 1990s, San Jose and the rest of Silicon Valley had become the global center for the high tech and internet industries. San Jose is considered to be a city, notable for its affluence. San Joses location within the high tech industry, as a cultural, political. San Jose is one of the wealthiest major cities in the United States and the world, and has the third highest GDP per capita in the world, according to the Brookings Institute. Major global tech companies including Cisco Systems, eBay, Adobe Systems, PayPal, Brocade, Samsung, Acer, Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by several groups of Ohlone Native Americans. The first lasting European presence began with a series of Franciscan missions established from 1769 by Junípero Serra, San Jose came under Mexican rule in 1821 after Mexico broke with the Spanish crown. It then became part of the United States, after it capitulated in 1846, on March 27,1850, San Jose became the second incorporated city in the state, with Josiah Belden its first mayor. San Jose was Californias first state capital, and hosted the first, today the Circle of Palms Plaza in downtown is the historical marker for the first state capital. The city was a station on the Butterfield Overland Mail route, in the period 1900 through 1910, San Jose served as a center for pioneering invention, innovation, and impact in both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air flight. These activities were led principally by John Montgomery and his peers, the City of San Jose has established Montgomery Park, a Monument at San Felipe and Yerba Buena Roads, and John J. Montgomery Elementary School in his honor

32.
Silicon Valley BART extension
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The Silicon Valley BART extension will expand service by Bay Area Rapid Transit into Santa Clara County, from its former terminus at the Fremont station in Alameda County. The extension has seven stations in three phases, the $790-million first phase was the Warm Springs/South Fremont station, that opened in March 2017. It broke ground in 2009, and completion had been expected in 2014, the $2. 3-billion second-phase has the Milpitas and Berryessa stations, both expected to open in fall 2017 or 2018. The second phase broke ground in 2012, and completion had been expected in 2016, a partnership between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is building the second phase, while BART will operate and maintain the entire extension. The proposed $4. 7-billion third phase remains unfunded, targeted for completion in 2025–2026, it would add three new subway stations west of Berryessa, Alum Rock, Downtown San Jose, and Diridon/Arena, and a new surface station in Santa Clara. Santa Clara County was originally going to have part of the BART system. Minor service at Palo Alto right over the border from San Mateo County was also planned originally, in 2000, Santa Clara County voters approved a 30-year half-cent sales tax increase to fund BART, which took effect in 2006. To make up for a shortfall in projected federal funding, an increase in the tax by ⅛ of 1% was proposed if additional federal funding were secured. The economy worsened in 2009, and the 2000 sales tax was projected to generate $7 billion which was short of the originally expected $11 billion, as a consequence, the number of planned stations was reduced. In addition, the line from Berryessa to downtown San Jose was delayed until 2025 and this line may or may not include Santa Clara. Construction of the Warm Springs extension began in 2009, VTA awarded $770 million to Skanska-Shimmick-Herzog in 2011 for the first phase of the Berryessa extension, and the federal government granted $900 million for the project in 2012. It was scheduled to open in 2016, despite substantial incentives if the opening were pulled in by 18 months to 2016, the Milpitas and Berryessa stations are expected to open in fall 2017 or 2018. VTA sought funding from the federal New Starts program in 2016, a half-cent 30-year sales tax passed in the 2016 elections, to raise $6.0 to $6.5 billion with up to 25% of this for BART or up to $1.6 billion. VTA also sought $1.5 billion from New Starts, and $750 million from the California Cap, the $790 million extension to Warm Springs is five miles long, the first part of BARTs Silicon Valley extension. The original estimate was $890 million, the cost of the subway segment under the lake in Fremont was reduced by 45% from the original estimate of $249 million to $136 million. The station opened on March 25,2017, the extension broke ground in 2009. Construction of the began in 2011, and was expected to take three and a half years. Construction of the $2.3 billion Berryessa extension started in 2012, while the opening has been delayed to fall 2017, or 2018, transit officials claimed that the project was ahead of schedule as of 2016

33.
Tram
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A tram is a rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets, and also sometimes on a segregated right of way. The lines or networks operated by tramcars are called tramways, Tramways powered by electricity, the most common type historically, were once called electric street railways. However, trams were used in urban areas before the universal adoption of electrification. Tram lines may run between cities and/or towns, and/or partially grade-separated even in the cities. Very occasionally, trams also carry freight, Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains, but the size of trams is rapidly increasing. Some trams may also run on railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line. For all these reasons, the differences between the modes of rail transportation are often indistinct. In the United States, the tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tired trackless trains. Today, most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph, in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail. If necessary, they may have dual power systems — electricity in city streets, trams are now included in the wider term light rail, which also includes segregated systems. The English terms tram and tramway are derived from the Scots word tram, referring respectively to a type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which they ran. The word tram probably derived from Middle Flemish trame, a Romanesque word meaning the beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge, the identical word la trame with the meaning crossbeam is also used in the French language. The word Tram-car is attested from 1873, although the terms tram and tramway have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English, North Americans prefer streetcar, trolley, or trolleycar. The term streetcar is first recorded in 1840, and originally referred to horsecars, when electrification came, Americans began to speak of trolleycars or later, trolleys. The troller design frequently fell off the wires, and was replaced by other more reliable devices. The terms trolley pole and trolley wheel both derive from the troller, Modern trams often have an overhead pantograph mechanical linkage to connect to power, abandoning the trolley pole altogether. Conventional diesel tourist buses decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called trolleys in the US, the term may also apply to an aerial ropeway, e. g. the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Over time, the trolley has fallen into informal use

34.
Key System
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At its height during the 1940s, the Key System had over 66 miles of track. The local streetcars were discontinued in 1948 and the trains to San Francisco were discontinued in 1958. The Key Systems territory is served by BART and AC Transit bus service. The Key System began as the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose Railway, service began on October 26,1903 with a 4-car train carrying 250 passengers, departing downtown Berkeley for the ferry pier. The company touted its key route, which led to the adoption of the name Key System, in 1908, the SFOSJR changed its name to the San Francisco, Oakland & San Jose Consolidated Railway, changed to the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railway in 1912. This went bankrupt in December 1923 and was re-organized as the Key System Transit Co. transforming a marketing buzzword into the name of the company. Following the Great Crash of 1929, a company called the Railway Equipment & Realty Co. was created. In 1938, the became the Key System. During World War II, the Key System built and operated the Shipyard Railway between a station in Emeryville and the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond. National City Lines acquired 64% of the stock in the system in 1946, jay Quinby hand published a document exposing the ownership of National City Lines. The new owners made a number of rapid changes, in 1946 they cut back the A-1 train route and then the express trains in 1947. The company increased fares in 1946 and then in both January and November 1947, during the period there were many complaints of overcrowding. They were convicted of conspiring to monopolize sales of buses and supplies and they were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the ownership of these companies. In 1948 they proposed a plan to all the streetcars to buses. They placed an advertisement in the local papers explaining their plan to modernize and motorize Line 14, Oakland city council opposed the plan by 5–3. The Public Utilities Commission supported the plan which included large fare increases, in October 1948,700 people signed a petition with the PUC against the Key System, seeking restoration of the bus service on the #70 Chabot Bus line. The councils of Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro opposed the removal of street cars, the traffic planners supported removal of the streetcar lines to facilitate movement of automobiles. Local governments in the East Bay attempted to purchase the Key System, Streetcars were converted to buses during November/December 1948

35.
General Motors streetcar conspiracy
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Systems included St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Oakland. NCL often converted streetcars to bus operations in that period, although electric traction was preserved or expanded in some locations, other systems, such as San Diegos, were converted by outgrowths of the City Lines. The story as a legend has been written about by Martha Bianco, Scott Bottles, Sy Adler, Jonathan Richmond. It has been explored several times in print, film and other media, notably in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Taken for a Ride, Internal Combustion, in many of these cases, the streetcars do not actually ride on the street. Boston had all of its downtown lines elevated, or buried, by the mid-1920s, San Francisco and Newark similarly use tunnels, SEPTA has greatly trimmed streetcar lines to a handful using the Center City Tunnel. In the latter half of the 19th century, transit systems were generally rail, first horse-drawn streetcars, streetcars paid ordinary business and property taxes, but also generally paid franchise fees, maintained at least the shared right of way, and provided street sweeping and snow clearance. They were also required to maintain service levels. Many franchise fees were fixed, or were based on the gross, not the net, such arrangements, early electric cars generally had a two-man crew, a holdover from horsecar days, which created financial problems in later years as salaries outpaced revenues. Many electric lines, especially in the West, were tied into other real estate or transportation enterprises, the Pacific Electric and the Los Angeles Railway were especially so, in essence loss leaders for property development and long haul shipping. By 1918, long before the actions of any alleged conspirators, conspiracy theorists connect Hertzs New York and Chicago bus enterprises with an alleged larger conspiracy. John D. Hertz, better remembered for his car business, was also an early motorbus manufacturer. He founded the Chicago Motor Coach Company in 1917 which operated buses in Chicago and the Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company in 1923, the same year, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company acquired a majority of the stock in the struggling New York Railways Corporation. In 1927 General Motors acquired a share of the Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company. Hertzs bus lines, however, were not in competition with any streetcars. By 1930 most streetcar systems were aging and losing money, service to the public was suffering, the Great Depression compounded this. Yellow Coach tried to transit companies to replace streetcars with buses. GM decided to form a new subsidiary—United Cities Motor Transport —to finance the conversion of streetcar systems to buses in small cities. The new subsidiary made investments in small systems, in Kalamazoo and Saginaw, Michigan and in Springfield

36.
Marin County, California
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Marin County /məˈrɪn/ is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 252,409 and its county seat is San Rafael. Marin County is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, Marin County is one of the wealthiest localities in the United States, known for its affluence. In May 2009, Marin County had the fifth highest income per capita in the United States at about $91,480, the county is governed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors. The county is well known for its natural beauty and liberal politics. San Quentin Prison is located in the county, as is George Lucas Skywalker Ranch, autodesk, the publisher of AutoCAD, is also located there, as well as numerous other high-tech companies. The Marin County Civic Center was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and draws thousands of visitors a year to guided tours of its arch, in 1994, a new county jail facility was embedded into the hillside nearby. Marin Countys natural sites include the Muir Woods redwood forest, the Marin Headlands, Stinson Beach, the Point Reyes National Seashore, the United States oldest cross country running event, the Dipsea Race, takes place annually in Marin County, attracting thousands of athletes. Mountain biking was invented on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin, According to General Mariano Vallejo, who headed an 1850 committee to name Californias counties, the county was named for Marin, great chief of the tribe Licatiut. Marin had been named Huicmuse until he was baptized as Marino at about age 20, Marin / Marino was born into the Huimen people, a Coast Miwok tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the San Rafael area. Vallejo believed that Chief Marin had waged several fierce battles against the Spanish, starting in 1817, he served as an alcalde at the San Rafael Mission, where he lived from 1817 off and on until his death. The Coast Miwok Indians were hunters and gatherers whose ancestors had occupied the area for thousands of years, about 600 village sites have been identified in the county. The Coast Miwok numbered in the thousands, today, there are few left and even fewer with any knowledge of their Coast Miwok lineage. Efforts are being made so that they are not forgotten, francis Drake and the crew of the Golden Hind was thought to have landed on the Marin coast in 1579 claiming the land as Nova Albion. A bronze plaque inscribed with Drakes claim to the new lands and this so-called Drakes Plate of Brass was revealed as a hoax in 2003. In 1595, Sebastian Cermeno lost his ship, the San Agustin, the Spanish explorer Vizcaíno landed about twenty years after Drake in what is now called Drakes Bay. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 828 square miles. It is the fourth-smallest county in California by land area

37.
Transbay Tube
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The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel which carries Bay Area Rapid Transits four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California. The tube is 3.6 miles long, including the approaches from the nearest stations and it has a maximum depth of 135 feet below sea level. The tube was constructed on land, transported to the site and this immersed tube technique is in contrast to bored tunneling, where rock is removed to leave a passage. The Tube was the segment to open in the original BART plan. All BART lines except the Richmond–Warm Springs line operate through the Transbay Tube, making it one of the busiest sections of the system in terms of passenger and train traffic. During peak commute times, over 28,000 passengers per hour travel through the tunnel with headways as low as 2.5 minutes. BART trains reach their highest speeds in the Tube, almost 80 miles per hour, the idea of an underwater rail tunnel traversing San Francisco Bay was suggested by the San Francisco eccentric Emperor Norton in a proclamation that he issued on May 12,1872. Emperor Norton issued a proclamation on September 17,1872, threatening to arrest the city leaders of Oakland. Official consideration to the idea was first given in October 1920 by Major General George Washington Goethals, goethalss proposal was estimated to cost up to US$50,000,000. The Davies and Modjeski proposal was joined by twelve other proposed projects to cross the Bay in October 1921, in 1947, a joint Army-Navy Commission recommended an underwater tube as a means of relieving automobile congestion on the then-ten-year-old Bay Bridge. The recommendation was issued in a report undertaken to determine the feasibility of the Reber Plan, seismic studies commenced in 1959, including boring and testing programs in 1960 and 1964, and the installation of an earthquake recording system on the Bay floor. The Tubes route was modified after preliminary surveys were unable to identify a continuous bedrock profile, the route was deliberately chosen to avoid bedrock as much as possible so the tube was free to flex, avoiding concentrated bending stresses. Design concepts and route alignment were completed by July 1960, a 1961 report estimated the cost of the Transbay Tube at US$132,720,000. Construction was started on the Tube in 1965, and the structure was completed after the section was lowered on April 3,1969. BART sold commemorative bronzed aluminum coins to mark the placement of the final section, prior to being fitted out, the Tube was opened for visitors to walk through a small portion on November 9,1969. The first test run was performed by a train under control on August 10,1973. The tunnel is set in a trench 60 feet wide with a gravel foundation 2 feet deep. Lasers were used to guide the dredging of the trench and the laying of the gravel foundation, construction of the trench required dredging 5,600,000 cubic yards of material from the Bay

38.
MacArthur station (BART)
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MacArthur is a rapid transit station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in Oakland, California, United States. It is the largest station in the BART system, being the one with four platform tracks in regular use. Service through MacArthur is timed for cross-platform transfers between the lines that pass through the station. MacArthur station is in North Oakland, in the median of Route 24 just north of its interchange with I-580, the surrounding area is mostly low-density residential, making MacArthur station a commuting hub. The current plan calls for 624 residential units as well as 42,500 square feet of retail space, the redevelopment is supported by the Bay Area Rapid Transit District board member, Lynette Sweet. Connecting AC Transit transit lines at this station include Line 31 to Alameda Point and 57 to Foothill Square, MacArthur station opened on September 11,1972, as the northern terminus of the inaugural BART line, which ran to Fremont. Upon the opening of the Transbay Tube, the station began to serve Cross-Bay trains to San Francisco, MacArthur station was built with cross-platform interchanges in mind. There are two platforms and four tracks. Platforms 3 and 4 serve the Pittsburg/Bay Point-SFO/Millbrae line, Platform 3 goes Northbound toward Pittsburg/Bay Point, connections between the lines are timed for Southbound passengers between Platforms 2 and 4. This is not the case for Northbound passengers, as a transfer point already exists further south at 19th Street Station. MacArthur tends to be crowded in the due to high transfer volume between two lines where only a few people get off while many are trying to board. List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations Official BART station page

39.
Fremont station (BART)
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Fremont is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station that serves Fremont, California. The station was the terminus of the Richmond-Fremont and Fremont-Daly City lines until March 25,2017 and this station has full service at all times, while the neighboring Warm Springs/South Fremont station will have half the service. Parking is in demand, and lots at most stations are full during peak hours. Service at this station began on September 11,1972, when the Automatic Train Control system had safety problems with its design and operation. On October 2,1972, an ATC failure caused the “Fremont Flyer” to run off the end of the track at the Fremont station. The incident drew national and international attention, followed a month later by release of the Post Report on BART safety by the legislative analyst for the California State Senate. The “Fremont Flyer” train crash led to a redesign of the automatic train control system, the firing of the general manager. Fremont station is a hub for AC Transit and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority buses. Local buses, mainly within Fremont, and routes to the north Bay Fair BART, one All-Nighter route to 14th & Broadway in downtown Oakland with a timed transfer at to from Civic Center/UN Plaza station and to Richmond Station. VTA, has express and commuter buses serving San Jose, Milpitas, VTA will discontinue service at this station, upon the opening of the Milpitas and Berryessa stations. The Stanford Marguerite Shuttles AE-F and East Bay Express lines serve Fremont BART as their terminal station, list of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations BART - Fremont Station Overview The station address on Google Maps Map of overflow parking lot for Fremont BART

40.
Colma station
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Colma is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located in unincorporated northern San Mateo County, adjacent to the incorporated municipalities of Colma and Daly City. Situated in a valley immediately adjacent to a BART rail yard. Currently, only the platform and two of the main tracks are in service. Before BART service was extended southward to Millbrae in 2003, Colma served as the terminal on the San Francisco Peninsula for the BART system. The Pittsburg/Bay Point-SFO Line terminated there on all trips and Richmond-Millbrae line ended there at weekday rush hours, service at this station began on February 24,1996. Balboa Park became a transfer station when Colma entered service. On the way back to Dublin or Fremont, Daly City was a point for Colma in 1996. Several SamTrans bus lines stop at the station,38 - daily peak period shuttle to Safe Harbor Shelter in San Bruno,118 - weekday peak period service to Linda Mar Shopping Center via Highway 1. 120 - daily local service to Brunswick & Templeton via Serra Center, Serramonte Shopping Center, Skyline Plaza Shopping Center, Westlake District, and Daly City BART. 121 - daily local service to Lowell & Hanover and Skyline College via Daly City BART, Seton Medical Center, Serramonte Shopping Center, and Fairmont Shopping Center

41.
Pittsburg/Bay Point station
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Pittsburg/Bay Point is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Pittsburg, California, United States, adjacent to the community of Bay Point. The station opened on December 7,1996, it is in BART District 2 and is represented by Joel Keller, in May 2008, a Library-a-Go-Go machine was added at this station, it is a vending machine that offers library books from the Contra Costa County Library system. This was BARTs first book vending machine and the first on any system in the country. The under-construction eBART extension – scheduled to begin running in 2018 – is a DMU line starting at Pittsburg / Bay Point to serve eastern Contra Costa County communities, the station is being expanded to include an additional platform beyond the existing one to provide an interchange to this service. The eBART platfrom will have no access, so passengers will have to ride a mainline BART train between the two platforms. The eBART line will go from Pittsburg / Bay Point to Antioch. There is also an infill station in Pittsburg, as well as proposals to extend the line further east to Oakley, Brentwood. A child was born in the parking lot on November 26,2012. On March 16,2016, a power surge on the tracks between North Concord/Martinez and Pittsburg/Bay Point stations caused several cars to be taken out of service. BART halted regular service to Pittsburg/Bay Point that day, and replaced the service with a bus shuttle, limited service to Pittsburg/Bay Point resumed on March 21 and full service returned on April 2

42.
Dublin/Pleasanton station
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Dublin/Pleasanton is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station on the border of Dublin and Pleasanton. The station is fed by twenty local and regional bus lines from five different providers, the station consists of an island platform located in the center median of Interstate 580. Parking lots for the station are located on both sides of the freeway and it is somewhat unusual in that trains travel down a long, somewhat rural stretch of Interstate 580 between Castro Valley and Dublin to get to the station. It is also notable in having transit service to the city of Modesto, local bus service is provided by WHEELS. Connection to ACEs Pleasanton station is available through WHEELS route 54, service at the station began on May 10,1997. It was originally intended to be called the East Dublin/Pleasanton station, however, the West Dublin/Pleasanton station did not actually open until 2011, and the East designator is not commonly used, station signage and route maps use the shorter name. An adjacent transit-oriented development on the Dublin side of the station finished initial construction in 2006, the development includes housing, retail, and a BART parking garage. Tri-Delta transit previously offered connections to Antioch from this station, however, altamont Corridor Express, a diesel commuter rail service that runs between Stockton and San Jose, has a station in Pleasanton with bus service to both Pleasanton BART stations. There have been proposals for a connection between ACE and BART by extending BART from Pleasanton to nearby Livermore. The Iron Horse Regional Trail connects to both the north and south sides of the station, list of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations Hacienda Business Park, an adjacent transit-oriented business district. Media related to Dublin / Pleasanton BART station at Wikimedia Commons BART. gov, official Dublin/Pleasanton Station website PleasantonCommons. com, Pleasanton Bart Station

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San Francisco International Airport
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San Francisco International Airport is an international airport 13 miles south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a gateway to Europe. SFO is the largest airport in Northern California and the second busiest in California, in 2014, it was the seventh busiest in the United States and the twenty-first busiest airport in the world by passenger count. It is the fifth largest hub for United Airlines and functions as United Airliness primary transpacific gateway and it also serves as Virgin Americas principal base of operations. It is the sole hub of United Airlines, and houses the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum. SFO is owned and policed by the City and County of San Francisco, between 1999 and 2004 the San Francisco Airport Commission operated city-owned SFO Enterprises, Inc. to oversee its business purchases and operations of ventures. San Francisco held a ceremony for Mills Field Municipal Airport on May 7,1927 on 150 acres of cow pasture. The land was leased from Ogden L. Mills who had leased it from his grandfather Darius O. Mills, San Francisco International Airport was named Mills Field Municipal Airport until 1931, when it became San Francisco Municipal Airport. Municipal was replaced by International in 1955, United Airlines served SFO and Oakland Municipal Airport beginning in the 1930s. The March 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows 18 airline departures on weekdays— seventeen United flights, the aerial view c.1940 looks west along the runway that is now 28R, the seaplane harbor at right is still recognizable north of the airport. Earlier aerial looking NW1943 vertical aerial The August 1952 chart shows runway 1L7000 feet long, 1R7750 feet, 28L6500 feet and 28R8870 feet. Competition with United led Pacific Seaboard to move all of its operations to the eastern U. S. and rename itself Chicago and it became a large domestic and international air carrier. Chicago & Southern was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in 1953 thus providing Delta with its first international routes, United Airlines Douglas DC-6 propliners flying to and from Hawaii used the Pan American World Airways terminal beginning in 1947. The first nonstops to the U. S. east coast were flown by United with Douglas DC-7 propliners in 1954, also in 1954 the airports Central Passenger Terminal opened on August 27 of that year. Included in the static display of aircraft on that day was a Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber. The Central Passenger Terminal was heavily rebuilt as the terminal in 1984. As for international flights, Pan American had 21 departures a week, Japan Airlines had five, the jet age arrived at SFO in March 1959 when TWA introduced Boeing 707-131 jetliners with nonstop service to New York Idlewild Airport. United then constructed a large facility at San Francisco for its new Douglas DC-8 jets

A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid …

Third rail at the West Falls ChurchMetro station near Washington, D.C., electrified at 750 volts. The third rail is at the top of the image, with a white canopy above it. The two lower rails are the ordinary running rails; current from the third rail returns to the power station through these.